Cuomo’s move will come on the heels of a city-wide protest staged by low-wage employees – who include home-health-care, child-care, and delivery workers – demanding a $15 minimum wage.
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The Obama administration has been pushing for a more modest increase in the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, but has been unable to get that through Congress. It followed the minimum-wage increase for fast food workers approved earlier this year.
“I believe that if you work hard and work full time, you should not be condemned to live in poverty”. “What we are saying is, enough is enough”, said Sanders, who has called for a US$15 federal minimum wage.
In Pittsburgh, as in NY, Tuesday’s Fight for $15 protests were accompanied by an executive order from Mayor Bill Peduto that city employees would be paid at least $15 an hour by 2021. It affects approximately 10,000 state workers, including custodial staff and office clerks.
Danny Donohue, president of CSEA, a leading public sector union, praised Cuomo and said the pay boost will have a “positive practical impact and will be good for New York’s economy as a whole”.
“Employers can show that our lives matter by raising the wage to $15 and giving us a union”, said Amber Graham, another low-wage worker. “This is about basic fairness and basic justice”, he said of the push to raise the minimum wage both in NY State and across the country. Outside NY City, increases would be more gradual, starting with a bump to $9.75 on December 31 and increasing $1 per year through 2019. Supporters of the $15 minimum wage are concerned that these private investors are putting profits before care and that the workers at these, now privately owned facilities are struggling to provide the level of patient care that should be expected.
Fast food workers nationwide walked off the job Tuesday. A major backer of the Fight for 15 campaign is the Service Employees global Union, which is trying to organize fast food workers in Los Angeles. She pointed out that city workers now make more than state workers-from $11.79 per hour. She said a $US15 minimum wage would give her independence since she now lives at home with family.
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Governor Cuomo also proposed a few tax breaks to help small businesses better afford the wage increase.
