New York board backs $15 minimum wage hike for fast-food workers

“The time for playing games with the lives of 1.1 million hard-working New Yorkers is over”. “This is just the beginning”. About 3,200 UC employees and a much larger but undetermined number of workers hired by university contractors will receive the higher wage, UC spokeswoman Dianne Klein said.

Today was a huge win but we aren’t finished. That’s the crusade we’re on. Today, they made history. He is now making $9 an hour. “If you’re going to pick one sector, it’s a strategic one”. “But on $9 an hour, it’s a constant struggle just to stay afloat, let alone get ahead”. For instance, they can’t automate jobs the way fast-food restaurants can.

A wave of wage increases in cities across the country, as well as at several major businesses, continued on Wednesday. Some are still recovering from the recession and can not afford the raise. Sixteen states have passed laws barring local governments from setting their own minimum wage.

“UC now pays at least the state minimum wage in any given locality”, said Dianne Klein, a spokeswoman for the UC Office of the President. Board members have said they support an increase, but they haven’t offered a specific amount. “And I might not even work here by then”. “Without my mother, I’d be homeless”, he said.

“It’s wonderful. I get to live on my own again”.

“I’ve never seen a shift in costs this radical”, he said.

When enacted, the wage hike will put New York at the forefront of the national movement to make the minimum wage a living wage. Our union and its members stand with those workers in their continued fight for family-sustaining wages and dignity and respect on the job. Since Republicans in the legislature have been reluctant to approve legislation, a likely vehicle would be through more wage boards appointed by the governor. More stress. More night shifts. This about something more important and more fundamental and more profound. “I can actually buy groceries and be there for my kids and grandkids”. “We thank Governor Cuomo for giving us this historic opportunity to make our voices matter and urge him to accept the Board’s $15 recommendation”. For New York City, the minimum wage should be increased to $10.50 on December 31, 2015, $12.00 on December 31, 2016, $13.50 on December 31, 2017, and $15.00 on December 31, 2018. Although the Wage Board insists the recommendation exclusively targets multibillion-dollar fast-food corporations, Garvey said that small, independent restaurant owners will suffer, too. Fast-food employees themselves have emerged as a potent political force in New York and around the nation. McDonald’s and has to rely on food stamps to eat. The economy grows when worker income grows. Over the a year ago the wage rate has been adopted by cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sea-Tac. And because wage boards in New York generally have set the pay only of tipped workers, who are covered under a separate minimum wage law, the decision might be challenged in court.

Terri Crain, president and CEO of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce spoke about how the minimum wage increase would affect the towns of Castaic and Val Verde.

As part of the wage-hike plan, the UC also plans to expand its monitoring to ensure employees of contract companies are being paid the proper wages.

“In a statement, Napolitano said, “… our community does not exist in a vacuum.

Fast food workers are not the only ones supporting the $15 an hour cause.

Over four days of hearings in Manhattan, Buffalo, Albany and Garden City this May and June, these are the stories we heard-from hundreds of fast food workers.