Governor Cuomo to Hike Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour for State Workers

On Thursday, Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to announce a sweeping pay increase for public-sector employees, with a new minimum wage of $15 an hour for entry-level state employees. The increase from the present rate of $8.75 will start with New York City workers in 2018 and radiate outward to the rest of the state by 2021. Ultimately, some 10,000 workers will be affected by the back-pocket pay hike.

Cuomo's move will come on the heels of a city-wide protest staged by low-wage employees â€” who include home-health-care, child-care, and delivery workers â€” demanding a $15 minimum wage. At the governor's behest, the state's board of labor recently approved incremental rate hikes for fast-food employees, also expected to reach $15 an hour by 2018, again, first in the city, and gradually spreading to the rest of the state by 2021.

“I have the piano wire ready, when the time comes.”

Most excellent, good sir. Did you get your training from the Julliard School in New York or the Eastman School of Music?

Well, of course. Once the floor wage for the state employees is lifted, the SEIU will negotiate increases above that floor for everyone who was making more.

Voila! Instant raise for all state employees!

Just to be perfectly clear here, the minimum wage in New York State remains at $8.75. It is scheduled to rise to $9.00 at the end of the year. Democrats, and unions in the state would LOVE to raise the minimum wage in the state. The only problem is, unbelievably enough, the New York State Senate is controlled by Republicans! Now, I grant you, New York Republicans are not the same as normal Republicans. Nonetheless, the Democrats cannot raise the minimum wage through, standard democratic mechanisms, so they are taking a page from BO and doing an end around. First, Cuomo's state Labor Department mandated a raise of the minimum wage for fast food workers to $15.00 due to take effect in 2021. (how THAT was legal is beyond me). Now he is mandating a raise for state employees to $15.00 an hour.

The effect, is to put upward pressure on all wages. I mean, these increases will force employers to, in some degree, follow suit, in order to retain good employees. Mandating wage increases, one sector at a time, all outside the legislative process.

$15 dollars an hour for fast food losers and the douchebag mayor’s arbitrator offers the NYPD a 1 percent raise. Over 250 assaults on staff this year in NYC jails. The criminal on the outside are added and abetted by the criminals on the inside

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.