While some can complain about this minimum, and granted, it does have its regional issues (like farming and small businesses, and entry-level positions)...don't you think the Major Corporations want to keep it low in order to keep a lid on higher skilled/level workers' wages?
We all know skilled people, with dangerous jobs, that are earning peanuts because they are being compared to an unlivable minimum wage, and likely, they work for larger businesses and corporations that could and should pay more. Look at the increasing disparity of income, as the living wage is being held down by corporations and lobbyists in Albany.
There needs to be a COMPROMISE, but no need to throw the whole idea out the window...the old tossing the baby out with the bath water!
NYS BUDGET: $15 Minimum Wage
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- For Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York State Legislature leaders, the pressure will mount Monday as they negotiate a state budget deal, and decide whether it will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Will the Senate agree to a $15 minimum wage?Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan gave indications last week that he's open to increasing the state's minimum wage from $9 to $15 an hour, like Cuomo and the Assembly want. But Flanagan wants exceptions to protect farmers and small businesses, and he's also talked of setting a different minimum wage in Upstate than in New York City.
Organizations representing the state's businesses are warning that a $15 an hour minimum wage will kill jobs, especially in Upstate New York. Labor unions, which have been Cuomo's strongest ally in his push to make New York's minimum wage the highest in the nation, are pushing back aggressively against the concept of a lower minimum wage in Upstate.
Senate Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco has been among the most vocal critics of the $15 minimum wage. In January, the Republican from Syracuse predicted the Senate would not approve the $15 wage.This is a tough issue for Senate Republicans. Most New Yorkers support the $15 minimum wage, according to a Siena College poll.
The outcome of the minimum wage debate could cost the Republicans control of the Senate in November, when all 63 seats are up for election.
3 Syracuse area business owners and 3 low-wage workers talk about how they'd be impacted by NY Gov. Cuomo's proposed increase in the state's minimum wage from $9 to $15 an hour.
