Before a labor crowd of 1,200 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City earlier this month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo stood with Vice President Joseph Biden to support making New York”™s minimum wage the highest in the country.
“Today we”™re putting our steps together to form a march toward economic justice,” Cuomo said. “Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour will bring fairness to 2.2 million working New Yorkers. Fifteen dollars an hour will be the highest statewide rate in the nation and will herald a new economic contract with America, and it”™s about time.”
Yet in Westchester ounty, the business community remains hesitant to throw its support behind the $15-per-hour initiative, fearing a quick and significant wage hike could hurt some businesses.
The impact on employers”™ payrolls was the main concern voiced by Marissa Brett, president of the Westchester County Association.
“Imposing new mandates will increase the cost of operations and make the cost of doing business even higher in Westchester and the region,” she said.
Marsha Gordon, CEO and president of the Business Council of Westchester, and John Ravitz, the council”™s executive vice president, said the state needs to consult with businesses and study how other cities have implemented similar minimum wage increases.
Gordon said it would be premature and unfair to lean one way or the other on the issue because a wage hike could affect different regions in the state differently.
“This should go through a process, and the Legislature should hold hearings of this,” said Ravitz, a Republican assemblyman in the state Legislature for 12 years. Doing a thorough review of the proposed increase, he said, would help determine “what makes the most sense for the state and what makes the most sense for small businesses.”
John Santos, the Hudson Valley district director and vice president of 32BJ Service Employees International Union, said an increase like the one proposed by Cuomo could make a big difference for its members.
“The bottom line is the more money you make the more money you spend,” Santos said, adding a wage increase can be “the difference between paying some … bills or saving a few extra dollars” when there is a little extra money to go around.
32BJ is a property services union that has 4,500 members throughout Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, Sullivan and Westchester counties. The union”™s commercial building cleaners are contracted to begin making $14.10 per hour next month. Santos said minimum wage discussions could influence upcoming contract negotiations.
The Retail Council of New York State took a middle-of-the-road approach to the proposed increase.
“Retailers are concerned about the effect of a $15-an-hour threshold on the industry”™s ability to create and provide jobs,” council officials said. “We see value in the governor”™s proposal and look forward to continuing our dialogue with him on this issue.”
The governor”™s announcement alongside the vice president of the United States reflected his desire to see a minimum wage increase already in place for one sector of the state”™s workforce writ large.
In May, Cuomo instructed Mario J. Musolino, the acting commissioner of the state Department of Labor, to impanel a wage board to investigate and hold hearings about raising wages in the fast-food industry.
Cuomo”™s decision to bypass the state Legislature and take action through a wage board came months after Republican lawmakers rejected his budget proposal to increase minimum wage to $11.50 an hour.
Less than three months later, Musolino”™s board made recommendations to increase fast food workers”™ wages to $15 an hour by 2019 in New York City and by July 2021 for the rest of the state.
The Business Council of New York State president and CEO, Heather C. Briccetti, said Musolino”™s wage board decision and Cuomo”™s $15 proposal are disappointing. She said the group will work with the state legislators to reject Cuomo”™s plan.
The wage increases, Briccetti said, “would likely have a negative impact on job creation and individual businesses.”
Musolino approved the board”™s recommendation for fast-food workers on the same day Cuomo called for a statewide $15-per-hour wage.
The current minimum wage debate comes only two years after the last one was decided.
By the end of 2015, the latest statewide minimum wage law ”” signed by Cuomo in 2013 ”” will take full effect, increasing the statewide hourly minimum wage to $9. The 2013 law has increased the minimum wage in steps over the last two years beyond the federal rate of $7.25 an hour.
