NY board set to back minimum wage hike for fast-food workers

Fast-food workers in New York may soon get a super-sized raise.

If approved, the hourly wage would increase in steps until it hits $15 in 2020.

I talked about the county minimum wage issue with “All Things Considered” host Steve Chiotakis on Monday’s weekly LA Observed segment on KCRW.

Numerous county business owners and representatives from various business organizations raised a litany of concerns with a minimum wage increase during Tuesday’s hours-long discussion.

UC Berkeley Spokeswoman Janet Gilmore said in an email statement last week the city of Berkeley’s minimum wage increase also excluded nonprofit organizations, like the university.

Bob Brandt, owner of Red vehicle Brewery in Torrance, said all employees, not just minimum wage workers, will expect a pay increase. After reading all the reports and digesting all of the constituent calls and letters, I want to share my thoughts on this issue.

Associated Students UCLA will increase its minimum wage in January to $10.25 an hour to accommodate the state minimum wage increase, but most jobs will start at $10.75 an hour by then, said ASUCLA Executive Director Bob Williams.

The governor has not said whether he backs increasing the wage to $15, but Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul has attended several rallies held at the board’s meetings by advocates of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Raise the Wage activists stacked the deck, transporting hundreds of workers to each hearing and encouraging them to create a hostile atmosphere for anyone who deigned to speak against raising the wage for fast-food workers. The board’s two Republicans, Michael Antonovich and Supervisor Don Knabe, voted no to the wage increase.

“I think the city of Glendale is fortunate enough to be in the situation where we can sit back and watch this measure take effect (in the city and county of Los Angeles) and actually have empirical evidence as to what the impact is”, he said. “The current minimum wage in Los Angeles County is $9.00 an hour, set by state law, which equates to $18,000 a year for a full-time employee”. However, the reality is that the struggle is much more complex, with different states and cities implementing their own paths towards a solution. The New York State Restaurant Association warns that anything but a slow phased-in increase in the minimum wage will wreak havoc with labor costs and customer prices for franchise owners.

“To have half the county moving to a $15 an hour minimum wage by 2020, 2021 for small businesses, I think it’s very important in the country, and we’re inviting workers, we’re inviting skilled workers….” “We are not paying workers to be in the working class anymore”.

Cuomo gave the board until the end of July to make a recommendation. Board members have said they support an increase, but they haven’t offered a specific amount. The concept is pretty straightforward – raise the minimum wage, and people can afford to live, pay rent, raise a family, and so forth.