New York advocates plan to hold a 24-hour vigil at the state capitol starting Monday in support of a proposal to raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has fought to get his minimum wage proposal included in the budget before it gets finalized Friday. His plan would raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 by 2021. Union activists and faith leaders organized the vigil in support of the increase, reports The Associated Press.
“We’re not at closure, but the direction has been good,” Cuomo said Sunday, according to the New York Daily News. “The conversations have been positive.”
Local labor unions have launched media campaigns and held numerous protests to advocate for the increase. They also attacked lawmakers opposed to the increase with advertisements. Cuomo, at the same time, has given speeches and embarked on a campaign-style road trip in support of his proposal.
Some of the Republican majority in the state Senate have expressed doubt the increase would be beneficial. The state minimum wage is currently $9.00 an hour. Supporters have claimed the raise could help address income inequality but critics fear it could hurt the poor. Businesses might be forced to cutback on their workforce to overcome the added cost of labor.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has found both positive and negative results at minimum wage increases. It found any increase in the minimum wage will likely result in at least some job loss. The University of California, Berkeley found in a recent study that having less people in poverty outweighs the potential job loss.
Cuomo did not respond to a request for comment by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
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