NY Governor Andrew Cuomo said he will raise the minimum wage for state workers to $15 (£9.92) an hour. Glenn Spencer, vice president of the Workforce Freedom Initiative at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a blog that few workers actually would strike.
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Democratic Bernie Sanders weighed at a worker’s rally in Washington. “You should have a decent lifestyle for you and your family”.
The strike for a $15 per hour wage began at 6 AM in cities on Tuesday and marked the biggest protest in the past three years since the group began its demand for higher wages, as well as the wish for a union.
“We’re going to keep holding these types of demonstrations all across the state until we get the minimum wage raised to $15”, Overturf said. “We need a wage that could take care of our basic necessities”.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has been a vocal proponent of the effort, joining supporters at a rally in Brooklyn this Tuesday.
Clinton had previously voiced her support for the campaign, if not specifically for a nationwide wage floor of $15. Cities including Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco have chose to gradually raise their minimum wage to $15 and NY City adopted a threshold base pay for fast food employees. “You should be very proud of what you have accomplished and now we have to finish the job – $15 bucks and a union”. It started with 200 workers in NY and it’s over a couple of million now.
The rally was organized by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and was one of numerous rallies scheduled to be held across the nation as part of a push to raise the minimum wage.
A recent survey by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) found that most unregistered voters would sign up and registered voters would be most likely to vote if a candidate backs a $15 hourly wage. McDonald’s hiked the wages for 90,000 workers at company-owned stores, but most McDonald’s locations are owned by franchisees who set their own pay rates.
Cuomo said NY would “lead by example” and establish a public-sector minimum wage.
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Ramon Johnson works at Burger King and has been employed in the fast-food industry for 20 years.
