ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Tuesday that he would unilaterally establish a $15 minimum wage for all state workers, making New York the first state to set such a high wage for its public employees.þþThe increase will place the pay of New York’s state employees far ahead of the current minimum wage in other states, and positions Mr. Cuomo at the vanguard of a national movement to address stagnant pay for millions of American workers.þþUsing executive authority, Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, would gradually increase the hourly rate: State workers in New York City would earn $15 an hour by the end of 2018; state workers outside of the city would also see wages rise, though more slowly, with rates climbing to $15 by the end of 2021. All told, some 10,000 workers — about 6.5 percent of the state’s permanent and seasonal work force — would see an increase in pay, according to the governor’s office, with the vast majority of those living upstate or outside the city.þþThe governor’s action came on a day when fast-food workers across the country staged strikes seeking a uniform $15 hourly wage, a movement that he has championed in New York as a growing number of cities have acted to raise wages.þþTwo states, Massachusetts and Oregon, have recently agreed to raise minimum wages to $15 for home care workers, who are private employees but often receive public funds. But Mr. Cuomo’s action is the first time a governor has increased mandatory hourly pay to at least $15 for employees of a state itself.þþAt a raucous rally in Lower Manhattan, Mr. Cuomo framed his decision as part of a larger fight against poverty and economic inequality, criticizing fast-food companies like McDonald’s for being culpable in “a scam on the taxpayers of this country.” He also summoned the legacy of another New York governor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and argued that “if you work full time, you should have a decent lifestyle for you and your family.”þþThe state’s current minimum wage of $8.75 was failing that promise, Mr. Cuomo said. “You can’t pay for housing and food and clothing on $18,000 a year, period,” he said. “And that’s what today is all about.”þþThe aggressive tone struck by the governor — his voice straining with emotion — was a departure from statements made in March, when he called $15 an hour too high.þþBut in recent months, Mr. Cuomo, a pragmatic centrist in many realms, has come to embrace raising the minimum wage. In July, he won an increase in the minimum wage for fast-food workers in New York through a state wage board.þþAnd although Mr. Cuomo in September did discount the option of raising wages only for state workers — “That’s not an optimum situation” — he did so because he said he wanted it to apply to all workers.þþState labor law exempts federal, state or municipal employees from minimum wage requirements, but Mr. Cuomo’s office said he would act on his own through his Division of Budget, directing the initial wage increases taking effect at the end of year. He would also seek to change the labor law in the coming legislative session, which begins in January, to prevent future governors from using executive powers to roll back the wages. Mr. Cuomo will be up for re-election in 2018, at the end of which the $15 rate will be put into effect in New York City.þþThe job categories affected by the plan include lifeguards, office assistants and custodial staff, some of which are seasonal. Wages in New York City would be raised first, administration officials said, because of its higher cost of living.þþThe notion of a statewide $15 minimum wage for all employees, public and private, has faced resistance from Republicans in Albany, and some conservative fiscal groups, who warn it would be disastrous for the state’s economy and job growth. On Tuesday, Senator John J. Flanagan of Long Island, the Republican leader in the State Senate, had no comment on the governor’s decision.þþMr. Cuomo’s announcement was met with an enthusiastic response from labor leaders like George Gresham, the president of 1199 S.E.I.U., the nation’s largest health care workers union, who applauded the governor’s action. Mr. Gresham said it could potentially set a $15-an-hour standard of pay for tens of thousands of the union’s home-care workers, “who do this important work, but who are not necessarily state employees.”þþThe announcement prompted the city’s public advocate, Letitia A. James, to call for a $15 minimum wage for city employees. A spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, a fellow Democrat and frequent sparring partner of Mr. Cuomo’s, noted that the city had already promised its lowest paid workers more than $12 an hour in 2016, while the governor’s plan would accelerate past that level only at the end of 2017.þþ“Of course, the mayor will continue to fight to ensure all workers, across every industry, make a wage on which their families can live,” the spokeswoman, Amy Spitalnick, said.þþMr. Cuomo’s move comes on the heels of several other executive actions seemingly meant to appease and please the liberal wing of his party, which has faulted the governor in the past for his working too closely with Republicans, who hold the majority in the Senate. Mr. Cuomo has also empowered the state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, a Democrat, to look into police-related killings. And last month, the governor expanded protections for transgender people, building on a 1945 state law that banned discrimination on the basis of sex.þþMr. Cuomo’s decision was based in part on pending negotiations with two large public-sector unions, Civil Service Employees Association and the New York State Public Employees Federation, both of whom also praised the governor’s actions on the wage. It was also hailed by groups that have seen a building momentum for higher pay.þþWhile symbolically significant, the estimated cost to the state will be just a small fragment of New York’s $150 billion budget — about $20.3 million annually by 2021, his office said.þþOn Tuesday, Mr. Cuomo, long rumored to have national political ambitions, seemed to sense the broader appeal and impact of the issue.þþ“The nation is going to watch us and we’re going to raise up this state and we’re going to raise up this nation to a higher level than it’s ever been,” he said, to a cheering crowd. “That’s what we are going to do.”
Source: NY Times
