Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers agree that New York state’s minimum wage should be raised and automatically adjusted to account for inflation.
But now the fight centers around what that amount should be.
Under Hochul’s proposal, the minimum wage would rise modestly to $16.40 downstate by 2026. The governor’s plan ties the minimum wage to the rate of inflation but caps the increase at 3% in any one year. For the average minimum wage-earning New Yorker working full time, that’s an extra $670 a year starting in 2026, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C.
Progressive lawmakers and their allies say Hochul’s plan is inadequate and doesn’t go far enough to ensure that workers’ paychecks keep up with the rising costs of living. Instead, they want to raise the average pay by $3,300 a year by 2026. To that end, legislation proposed by state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens) and Assemblymember Latoya Joyner (D-Bronx) would boost the minimum wage to $21.25 downstate by 2026 and tie future increases to inflation.
“We are talking about folks who do all sorts of important service work, but only make the minimum wage,” Ramos said. “And it is why it’s so important that we allow these workers to make enough to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table for their families.”
That fight is underway in Albany, pitting the moderate Democratic governor against progressive members of her party as they negotiate the state’s budget, which is due by April 1. Where they end up could affect millions of low-wage workers in the fast-food industry and other low-paying sectors.
On Wednesday, Hochul told reporters in Albany that various proposals are being discussed.
“These are all on the table. We’re talking about minimum wage at the table and having a lot of good conversation about how we can increase affordability for New Yorkers,” the governor said.
Hochul’s plan would benefit about 1.1 million low-wage workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The Ramos-Joyner proposal would benefit 2.9 million low-wage workers, or about 32% of the state’s workforce.
For Anthony Rivera of Bergen Beach in Brooklyn, the difference would mean he could give up one of his part-time jobs and devote more time to his college coursework and his family.
“It would help me and my family out tremendously,” said Rivera, 20.
He works part-time stocking groceries at Key Food, where he earns $15 an hour. His second part-time job as a package handler at UPS pays $16.65 an hour.
The earnings go toward paying utilities, groceries, and the $2,350 monthly rent on the two-bedroom apartment he shares with his mother and younger sister. His mother, Rivera says, earns about $30,000 a year working for an insurance company, but her salary is not enough to cover all the bills.
His supermarket job starts at 7 a.m., while his UPS shift ends at 10:30 or 11 p.m. He takes online classes in between the two jobs.
“It’s definitely a struggle because, it’s so … crammed together where it doesn’t really leave much room for social activities,” Rivera said.
While Congress has failed to raise the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009, states across the country have been enacting their own wage floor.
More than a decade ago, fast-food workers walked out of New York City restaurants, demanding to be paid $15 an hour for their labor. The so-called Fight for $15 successfully raised the minimum wage gradually starting in 2016 and the raise is still being phased in upstate.
While New York had the highest minimum wage when it raised the rate to $15 an hour, it has since fallen behind. Washington state’s minimum hourly wage is $15.74, while California’s is $15.50.
Other cities that peg their minimum wage to inflation have gone higher, including Seattle, where the minimum wage is $18.69 an hour; Denver, where it is $17.29; Washington D.C., where it is $16.10; and Los Angeles, where it is $16.04.
But raising the minimum wage is also prompting some concerns that with higher salaries, low-income families could lose public benefits, such as food stamps and Medicaid.
But a 2020 study by the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group, looked at what would happen if the federal minimum wage were to increase to $15 and it found that the concerns were misplaced.
“The country’s major public benefits programs generally incorporate gradual phase-outs, not ‘benefits cliffs,’ so that as earnings increase, benefits gradually decrease,” according to the report. “Despite the reduction in benefits, these working families’ net incomes remain higher — in many cases, significantly higher — than they were before a wage increase.”
Ramos says her proposal to raise the minimum wage to $21.25 an hour was “calculated” so that it would not affect most New Yorkers receiving public assistance.
Raising the minimum wage has been shown to reduce the poverty rate and inequality, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The think tank estimates nearly half ,or 48%, of the affected workers across the state are single parents and 760,000 children live in households that would benefit from the pay raise.
In New York City, 84% of the workers who would benefit under the Ramos-Joyner proposal are people of color.
Joyner said the average median income in her Bronx district — which includes the neighborhoods of Highbridge, Mount Eden and Morris Heights — is $30,000 a year.
“This will definitely help many of my constituents not have to make tough decisions on whether they’re going to pay their electricity bill or pay for food,” said Joyner.
Source : Gothamist