New York Times Supports $15/hour Minimum Wage

I first asked the St. Augustine City Commission to adopt a $15 minimum wage for City employees, City franchisee employees and City contractor employees in December 2005. Our City of St. Augustine Beach and our Anastasia Mosquito Control Commission have taken giant steps. Here's The New York Times editorial:

A $15 Minimum Wage for New York
By THE EDITORIAL BOARDMARCH 4, 2016
The lowest-wage workers in New York could soon get a much-needed raise — if the stingy Republicans who control the State Senate don’t block it.

Legislators in Albany are supposed to vote by April 1 on the latest state budget from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which includes a strong and sensible provision to raise the state minimum wage. Under the proposal, the minimum in New York City would rise from $9 an hour now to $15 by the end of 2018; elsewhere in the state, it would rise to $15 by mid-2021.

So far, however, Senate Republicans have opposed the increase, saying the $15 target is a populist ploy rather than valid policy. The Democratic-controlled Assembly supports the increase.

It is the Republicans who are playing politics. By opposing a $15 minimum, they are currying favor with corporations that keep wages low as a way to keep profits high. They ignore the economic arguments in favor of $15. They also are defying the majority of voters in New York who support it, according to recent polls.

The main Republican argument — that $15 an hour would be too high for employers outside New York City — is easily answered. The five-year phase-in would give employers time to adjust.

In addition, a $15 minimum in 2021 would meet, not exceed, the benchmarks accepted by most economists. A minimum wage is generally considered adequate if it is equal to at least half of the average hourly wage, which is now about $27 in the state. That means a $30 average wage and a $15 minimum in 2021 would be fair and reasonable.

More important, any amount less than $15 in 2021 would be too little for most workers to live on. According to research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, people in New York’s poorest counties required nearly $10 an hour in 2014 to meet basic living costs. To cover the costs for one adult and one child took at least $22 an hour. To argue against a $15 minimum wage in 2021 is to argue for poverty-level wages.

Mr. Cuomo, who has emerged as the nation’s strongest governor in the fight for $15, has laid the groundwork for the raise. He has used special processes in New York law to raise the minimum wage gradually to $15 for fast-food workers in the state, as well as for state employees and employees of the State University of New York.

Senate Republicans would be smart to help him expand that work. If they resist, Mr. Cuomo and the voters must ensure that they pay a steep political price.