Renewed push for NYS minimum wage increase

ALBANY -- Democrats tried to increase the heat Tuesday on Republicans who control the State Senate to increase New York's minimum wage when the legislature returns from its Easter/Passover break.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), Senate Minority Leader John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) said that raising the minimum wage to $8.50 an hour from $7.25 and tying future increases to inflation would "permanently maintain the purchasing power of minimum-wage households, which will in turn create jobs."

Sampson said the increase would provide financial relief to about 1 million workers.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) has called increasing the minimum wage his top priority. Democrats in both the Senate and Assembly have planned hearings on the issue.

"This is a moral obligation -- people who work a full week shouldn't be poor," Silver told reporters last week. "This gets them a little bit further from poverty."

Skelos called Silver's proposed hike a "job killer" and said he prefers tax credits for small businesses. "I want to make sure that whatever we do in the balance of this legislative session does not end up with losing jobs rather than creating jobs," Skelos said before the legislature adjourned last week.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has yet to fully weigh in, but is leaning toward an increase.

"The governor has been supportive of previous proposals to raise the minimum wage and is continuing discussions during the remainder of the session," Cuomo spokesman Matthew Wing said in an email.