Raise the minimum to $11.50 in New York City, $10.50 in rest of state

Gov. Cuomo wants to give minimum-wage workers a raise.
The governor proposed Sunday raising the city’s minimum wage to $11.50 an hour and $10.50 in the rest of the state. If approved by the State Legislature, that would be an increase from the current state-wide minimum of $8.75 an hour.

“It's too easy to say ‘get a job,’” Cuomo said.
“When you get the job, the job has to pay enough that you can pay the rent, and you can pay for food, and it is a sustainable wage.”

If implemented the plan would be the first time the city has had a different minimum wage than the rest of the state.
 
“It’s the first time we’ve ever recognized a differential in the state.The New York City market is arguably the most expensive market in the United States of America, and it is a much more expensive market than other parts of the state. So it makes sense to me to have a two-tiered minimum wage,” Cuomo said.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. State law calls for the minimum wage to go up to $9 at the end of 2015.

The new plan would give New York the highest state-wide minimum wage in the country. Currently, the Empire State is in eighth place.
Cuomo said that the economy was strong enough to handle the mandatory raise.
“The market is strong. And I believe this market at this rate of strength can deal with this minimum wage increase,” Cuomo said.
The plan will likely face stiff resistance in the Republican-controlled State Senate.

“There is something called the New York state legislature, which we are very fond of. But I feel very good about it,” Cuomo said.
Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) was skeptical the Senate will go for another minimum wage hike given that it just went up to $8.75 an hour last month.
"What, are we going to raise it every year? We want to be fair to small businesses," Golden said of Cuomo's plan.

But Senate GOP Majority Leader Dean Skelos in November said flatly that “we're not doing minimum wage” even as he said that “I will always discuss things.”

At the time he flatly ruled out giving cities like New York the power to raise their own minimum wage or tying future hikes automatically to the rise in inflation — two things de Blasio and other advocates have sought. Skelos was not asked about the state setting a two-tier wage system like Cuomo has proposed.

Some critics assailed the proposal from the left, saying it didn’t go far enough.
Bill Lipton, Director of the New York State Working Families Party, noted that Cuomo previously endorsed raising the minimum wage to $13 an hour.
“Workers in high-cost of living areas like New York City need a higher wage due to higher living expenses,” Lipton said. “But $11.50 is almost $2 less than what he endorsed last spring. And the truth is it's nearly impossible to raise a family in this state on even $12 or $13 an hour.”

Jonathan Westin, Executive Director of New York Communities for Change, pointed out that Seattle recently passed legislation that will impose a $15 an hour minimum wage.

“Governor Cuomo has backtracked on his commitment to millions of low-wage workers,” Westin said.
The plan did get the support of key labor unions.
Josh Gold, political director for the Hotel and Motel Trades Council, said there is "strong institutional support" for the"aggressive but reasonable" plan.

"People need to realize that there's still a Republican controlled Senate that the governor has to negotiate with," Gold said.
The proposal also did not give Mayor de Blasio control of the minimum wage in the city, which he has sought. A mayoral spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

The Daily News has been a powerful voice in favor of raising the minimum wage. In April of last year the Port Authority raised the minimum hour pay to $10.10 after the paper exposed the abysmal pay for many airport workers.
The proposal was part of a broad anti-poverty push Cuomo detailed in advance of Wednesday’s State of the State address. Following the speech, Cuomo said he would begin negotiations with Republicans.

Among the proposal’s other components:

·         An additional $220 million for homeless services and 5,000 units of supportive housing.

·         $486 million for affordable housing.

·         Boosting the state’s goals for hiring minority and women-owned businesses, as well as goals for minority youth hiring.

·         $4.5 million in emergency food services.

·         Additional small business tax credits that Cuomo said would amount to the “lowest level in 100 years.”

·         The state will pay for a college grad’s first two years of student loans. The student must have high debt and make less than $50,000 a year.

During a separate event Sunday at Grace Baptist Church in Mountain Vernon, Cuomo also announced $50 million in state funding for a new faith-based community development program.
He tapped Brooklyn State Assemblyman and minister Karim Camara to helm the program, which will make $50 million available to faith-based non profits and places of worship.

"You look for the rock in a community to build on, and often the rock is the church, is the temple, is the mosque," the governor said.
The governor said the funding was taking advantage of the state's stable economy.
"The time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining, and the sun is shining in New York," he said.