Business groups launch coalition to oppose New York’s $15 minimum-wage plan

ALBANY, N.Y. — A group of 26 organizations representing businesses and industries has formed a coalition that opposes Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to increase the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour from the current $9.

The coalition also announced the launch of the “minimum wage reality check” campaign and its website (http://www.minimumwagerealitycheck.com).

The campaign seeks to “educate” the public, community leaders, and elected officials on why the coalition contends “a 67 percent minimum-wage increase is wrong for New York.”

The coalition expects to grow as the “adverse impacts of a $15 minimum wage are better understood,” according to a news release it issued.

A minimum wage increase to $15 per hour will result in a 40- to 70-percent increase in labor expenses on New York vegetable farms, Brian Reeves, partner in Lysander–based Reeves Farms and president of the New York State Vegetable Growers Association, said.

“Labor is by far our largest expense in producing fresh market vegetables …about 50 percent of our cost of production,” said Reeves. “We would need to raise prices … at least 25 to 50 percent to maintain current operations. Unfortunately, I will not be able to increase prices by this amount because competitors in neighboring states and Canada will undercut my prices due to their lower labor costs. Therefore this minimum-wage increase proposal will place New York’s vegetable industry in peril.”

A report issued Thursday by the Empire Center for Public Policy and the American Action Forum indicated that increasing New York’s minimum wage to $15 would cost the state nearly 600,000 jobs.

Raising the minimum wage will have a “negative” impact on Upstate businesses, the people they employ, and the products they offer for sale, Lou Santoni, president and CEO of the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, said in the coalition news release.

“A $15 minimum wage will put us at a competitive disadvantage with neighboring states such as Pennsylvania. When considering the cost of doing business, employers will look to create jobs there instead of New York,” said Santoni.

Members of the coalition include the following groups:

•       New York chapter of National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB/NY)

•       New York Farm Bureau

•       The Business Council of New York State

•       Unshackle Upstate

•       Empire State Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors

•       The Associated General Contractors of New York State

•       New York State Hospitality & Tourism Association

•       New York State Restaurant Association

•       Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association

•       New York Association of Convenience Stores

•       Rochester Business Alliance

•       Buffalo Niagara Partnership

•       The Capital Region Chamber of Commerce

•       Rockland Business Association

•       Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce

•       Wyoming County Chamber of Commerce

•       Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance

•       Northeastern Retail Lumber Association

•       New York State Motor Truck Association

•       Ski Areas of New York

•       New York State Vegetable Growers Association

•       NY Alliance for Environmental Concerns

•       New York State Builders Association

•       New York Construction Materials Association

•       Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

•       Citizen Voices of Oneonta

Minimum-wage status

Acting New York State Labor Commissioner Mario Musolino on Sept. 10 signed an order designating a $15 per hour statewide minimum wage for fast-food workers.

A state Labor Department wage board earlier in the summer had recommended the level.

That same day, Cuomo rallied for fair pay for New York’s workers and announced a push to make New York the first state in the nation to adopt a $15 per hour minimum wage.

Vice President Joseph Biden had joined Cuomo for that rally.

If approved by the legislature, Cuomo’s proposed all-industry, minimum-wage increase would be phased in to mirror the fast-food wage order, taking full effect by Dec. 31, 2018 in New York City and July 1, 2021 for the rest of New York.

The Cuomo administration is pushing for a statewide $15 minimum wage to build support for a bill to be introduced in the next legislation session.

Elsewhere in the Northeast, voters in Portland, Maine on election day rejected that city’s plan to adopt a $15 minimum wage.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com