| Silver
et al. Introduce Minimum Wage Bill
By
Richard J. Koreto
Posted
on 2/2/12
A new bill, A9148, has been introduced in the
New York Assembly to raise
the minimum wage.
Below are some of the key provisions in the bill:
- The
minimum wage would, if the bill became law, rise to $8.50
from the current $7.25 as of
Jan. 1, 2013.
- There
would be an indexing system: Starting Jan. 1, 2014 and
on each Jan.
1 thereafter, the state would adjust
the minimum wage according to the inflation rate, using
the consumer
price index—"all urban consumers" (CPI-U).
Silver had previously noted that had New York's minimum
wage kept pace with inflation since the 1970s, it would
be $10.80
an hour today.
- Food
service workers who earn tips, and thus usually have
a lower minimum wage than other
works, would get a
2013 raise to $5.86. Their wages would also be indexed going forward.
Governor
Andrew Cuomo and State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos
haven’t said "yes" or "no" yet
to the proposal, but Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is already
countering the traditional argument that a rise in the
minimum wage
is
automatically
a job-killer. He told the New
York Daily News that “the
state with the highest minimum wage, which is Washington,
has the lowest unemployment in the country and they’ve
had the highest growth since the recession.”
Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
has told the New
York Times that he is joining Silver "in pushing
for a responsible raise in the minimum wage." Bloomberg
noted that Connecticut's minimum wage is now $8.25, and Massachusetts'
wage is $8.00.
It's too early to handicap this contest,
but the City
and State political blog noted that "it speaks to the Assembly
speaker’s remarkable staying power" that a capitalist
giant like Bloomberg is in his corner. "Few people bet
against Silver," opined the blog.
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