The Republican majority in the New York State Senate said Thursday it wants to see a Democratic proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour before deciding on it.
New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is at the forefront of pushing for a statewide $15 minimum wage. While Republicans often oppose minimum wage increases, leadership in the state Senate has not been so adamant. Republican Senate Leader John Flanagan notes they want to see the current proposal before ruling on it.
“We don’t know what the details are,” Flanagan told North Country Public Radio. “There’s broad outlines but until I see something in writing – and as I said we’ve proven that we support increases in the minimum wage.”
Senate Republicans did approve the recent $9 an hour increase. The current proposal was introduced Sept. 10 by Cuomo and will gradually bring the state minimum wage to $15 by 2021 if passed by the legislature. The governor has also been able to unilaterally raised wages for those working in the fast-food industry, state university workers and state employees.
Sixty-two percent of state residents support the increase, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll. Supporters say the $15 minimum wage will help the poor by allowing them to more easily afford basic necessities. The increased spending would then in turn stimulate economic activity.
Not everyone, however, agrees that raising the minimum wage is a good idea. Critics argue many businesses don’t have the profits to handle such an increase. Such businesses have few options to offset the added cost of labor besides increasing prices, hiring less workers or even laying employees off. In some cases the businesses may have to close.
Seattle became the first to pass a $15 minimum wage back in June 2014. Some businesses within the city have already reported problems because of the increase. New York Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday a plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for all city workers.
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