The newly approved New York state budget includes an increase in the minimum wage to $15, which will occur gradually for most areas of upstate New York.
The topic generated much debate between supporters and opponents in the weeks leading up to the state legislature’s approval.
New York’s current minimum wage is $9.
In Central New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appeared in Solvay to push for the increase, while the leaders of business groups opposed the plan during a news conference that New York State Senator John DeFrancisco (R–Syracuse) held at the State Office Building.
For workers outside New York City and the Hudson Valley, the minimum wage would increase to $9.70 at the end of 2016, then another 70 cents in succeeding years until reaching $12.50 on Dec. 31, 2020.
The wage would then continue to increase to $15 on an indexed schedule that the director of the state’s Division of Budget (DOB) would set in consultation with the New York State Department of Labor.
The legislation also provides a “safety valve” to the increases, Cuomo’s office said. Beginning in 2019, the state DOB director will conduct an annual analysis of each region’s economy and the effect of the minimum-wage increases statewide. The analysis will help determine if a temporary suspension of the scheduled increases is necessary.
The DOB director will submit the analysis to the state Labor Department.
“We have created a new promise of opportunity for the working men and women of New York by passing a $15 minimum wage statewide and the strongest paid family leave program in the nation. Now in New York, if you work hard you will have the opportunity to succeed,” Cuomo contended in an April 1 statement following the final budget passage.
Opposition
The increase in the minimum wage will force small businesses to make “dramatic decisions,” Michael Durant, executive director of New York chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), contended in his remarks made on March 4 in Syracuse.
“Whether it’s increasing the cost of the good or service they provide, whether it’s reducing hours for their employees, whether it’s potentially closing their business,” said Durant.
To think that arbitrarily increasing labor costs on a small business is not going to have an economic impact on the viability of their business is “blatantly false,” he argued.
Durant also noted that New York has the highest state and local tax burden in the country; the “worst” business-tax climate” in the country; fifth highest workers’-comp costs, and “some” of the highest health-care costs.
NFIB represents 11,000 small and independent businesses across New York, according to Durant.
He spoke on March 4 at the State Office Building in downtown Syracuse during a news conference that State Sen. DeFrancisco held to oppose an increase in the minimum wage.
However, citing “political considerations,” DeFrancisco and colleagues in the State Senate eventually approved the bill that contained the wage increase on April 1. That’s according to an April 5 article on the website Politico New York that reporter Jimmy Vielkind wrote based on DeFrancisco’s appearance on the statewide public-radio news program “The Capital Pressroom.”
Durant on April 1 tweeted “Impossible to offset this minwage deal. This budget is a death sentence for many smallbiz.”
James Calvin, president of the New York State Association of Convenience Stores, calls it “surreal” that in 2016 the policy debate statewide isn’t about creating or retaining jobs, but whether to make it two-thirds “more expensive” for private-sector employers to create and retain jobs.
He noted that the last round of minimum-wage increases, which “just fully took effect” 10 weeks ago, caused convenience-store operators to cut hours and in some cases eliminate positions or cut discretionary benefits.
“I don’t even want to think about what the consequences are going to be if there’s another 67 percent increase in their payroll costs on top of that,” said Calvin.
Calvin also spoke at the March 4 DeFrancisco news conference in Syracuse.
Cuomo in Solvay
Cuomo spoke during a March 2 rally at the Solvay Geddes Youth Community Center during a statewide “Drive for $15” stop.
“The minimum wage today is $9 per hour … that’s $18,000 a year. You cannot have a decent life on $18,000 a year period. Anywhere in this state. It’s math and it doesn’t add up. The cost of living is more than the minimum wage. So we say raise the minimum wage, restore decency, restore honor, restore dignity for the middle class and the working families in New York,” Cuomo said in his remarks at the event.
Cuomo on April 4 signed the legislation that included both the $15 minimum-wage plan and the 12-week family-leave policy into law.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com