Assembly Dems introduce bill accelerating minimum wage increase
By MATTHEW DONDIEGO
A new bill introduced Thursday by Assembly Democrats would increase the state minimum wage to $9 an hour a full year ahead of schedule.
The Assembly bill (A.8343), introduced by Speaker Sheldon Silver, D–Manhattan, and Assembly Labor Committee Chairman Carl Heastie, D–Bronx, would also tie future wage increases to the rate of inflation and require the increase to come into effect on December 31, 2014 instead of 2015.
"Introducing this legislation to accelerate the three-stage minimum wage increase underscores the fact that right now, there are thousands of hardworking men and women that are still forced to choose between putting food on the table for their families and paying their bills each month. These are the people – the families with children to feed, houses to maintain and doctor's expenses to pay for – that simply cannot wait two more years for a decent raise," Silver said in a statement. "It is unreasonable to condemn these families to a life of poverty in order to appease large-scale businesses that are exploiting the working poor to maximize profits."
Last March, the Assembly passed a similar bill, also marrying future minimum wage increases to the rate of inflation, according to the Consumer Price Index, although that bill failed to pass the Senate. The minimum wage bill eventually passed by both the Senate and Assembly did not tie wages to inflation, and raised the minimum wage incrementally, in three phases, with the next increase scheduled to reach $8.75 at the end of this year.
http://www.legislativegazette.com/Articles-Top-Stories-c-2014-01-09-86352.113122-Assembly-Dems-introduce-bill-accelerating-minimum-wage-increase.html
