Calling it “the most impactful living wage law in the United States,” New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is pushing legislation that would raise the minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $11.50/hour (and $10/hour with benefits) for developments subsidized by the city.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg does not support this living wage legislation, equating the policy with communist Russia:
“If you think about it, the last time we really had a big, managed economy was the U.S.S.R. and that didn’t work out so well,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “You cannot stop the tides from coming in. We need jobs in this city. It would be great if all jobs in the city paid a lot of money and had great benefits for the workers, not good for the employers, but if you force that, you will just drive businesses out of the city.” [NY Observer]
Quinn allegedly has enough votes to not only pass the bill, but to override a veto from Bloomberg. The mayor says he would veto the bill and would fight the legislation in court.
Bloomberg’s underlying argument:
“You just cannot force employers to pay a rate that doesn’t–isn’t sustainable in their business and it’s not the government’s business to do this.”
Also important to note: Speaker Quinn cut the number of workers who would benefit from this legislation - with exemptions for several high-profile developments - in order to gain enough support for the bill. The increased minimum wage would affect only 400-500 workers, according to the New York Times. Quinn defends the compromise, saying the bill is meant to apply to new developments.
Despite the diluted nature of the proposed policy, those who support the bill simply say something is better than nothing.
(via browngurlwfro)
