New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo plans to direct the state labor commissioner to create a panel to consider raising quick-service workers’ wages.
In an op-ed published Thursday in The New York Times, and at a mid-day rally with workers in New York City, Cuomo said state legislators had rejected his proposal to raise the state minimum wage to $11.50 in New York City and $10.50 elsewhere in the state.
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“While lawmakers delay, I am taking action,” Cuomo said.
In 2013, Cuomo led an effort to raise New York State’s minimum wage to $8.75, from $7.25. It will rise to $9 at the end of this year.
In February, the state’s acting labor commission approved increasing wages for New York restaurant wait staff and other tipped workers to $7.50 an hour before tips, effective Dec. 31. Servers in New York currently earn $5 per hour, compared with a non-tipped minimum wage of $8.75. The state allows businesses to use tips to meet or pass the minimum wage.
In New York City, the tipped wage would rise to $8.50 an hour if the city is granted permission to raise its minimum wage above the state's rate.
Cuomo said state law empowers the labor commissioner to investigate whether wages paid in a specific industry or job classification “are sufficient to provide for the life and health of those workers.” If not, he said, the commissioner can appoint a so-called wage board to recommend what the adequate wages should be.
“I am directing the commissioner to impanel such a board, to examine the minimum wage in the fast-food industry,” Cuomo said. “The board will return in about three months with its recommendations, which do not require legislative approval.”
Melissa Fleischut, president and CEO of the New York State Restaurant Association, told The New York Times that the governor’s wage board proposal was unfair.
“Singling out a sector of one industry to have a higher minimum wage than all other occupations is unfair and arbitrary,” Fleischut said. “The minimum wage is rightfully set by the Legislature and should affect all businesses equally.”
However, Cuomo noted the large gap in wages between restaurant industry executives and front-line workers.
“Nowhere is the income gap more extreme and obnoxious than in the fast-food industry,” Cuomo said.
On average, he said, CEOs of quick-service companies made $23.8 million each in 2013, while entry-level foodservice workers in New York State earned $16,920 a year. The state has an estimated 180,000 quick-service workers.
At today’s New York City rally, Cuomo was joined by leaders of the “Fight for $15” campaign, which has conducted protests around the nation.
Cuomo said the wage board could "set fast-food workers on a path out of poverty," as well as ease the financial burden on taxpayers and create a new national standard.
"Some argue that we can close the income gap by pulling down the top," he wrote. "I believe we should do it by lifting up the bottom. We can begin by raising labor standards, starting with the minimum wage."
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