A September poll by Quinnipiac University found that 62 percent of NY voters supported raising the minimum wage to $15 over the next few years. “Though many think the recession is fading into the past, the bottom line is that real wages continue to decline for workers, especially those in the lowest paid occupations”.
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Ebony McCarty, a single mother of three, said she was working two part time jobs until she was laid off from a Madison Arby’s restaurant where she was making $8 an hour.
Councilors should be told to wait for the state to pass a minimum wage increase that would benefit public and private employees alike. “Put $15 on our check!” said a tweet from @FightFor15Mass, a Boston group organizing protests outside a McDonald’s there.
However, many business groups oppose raising the minimum-wage rates by so much, as doing so could force employers to raise prices or lay-off workers.
In Winston-Salem, for example, city council member Derwin Montgomery joined a news conference organized by workers to announce he’ll propose increasing the minimum wage for all city employees to $15 an hour when the city budget comes up for discussion in the spring.
This week’s Fight for $15 protests in many cities were attended by state and local officials who support workers’ organizing efforts.
“Fast-food, home care, child care workers: Your advocacy is changing our country for the better”, tweeted Hillary Clinton. The increase will impact about 10,000 state workers, about 1,000 in NY City and the rest upstate.
The increase applies to state workers and will come into effect gradually.
Beale said he considered the Charlottesville rally a success and hopes events like these can bring everyone in the country together over issues that will improve the majority of lives across the country.
The Cuomo admin projects that the wage increase will cost $20.6 million annually after it’s fully implemented in 2021.
“There are also other people who have jobs, who risk their lives for us that don’t get the higher pay, and they stick with their low salary”, said Jasmin Barnes, Elizabethtown.
The scheduled protests were to take place as McDonald’s holds an investor meeting.
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There are 277,622 active employees on the state payroll. “There are unintended consequences when you make a blanket statement of US$15 an hour”, Mr Mabry said.
