Syracuse Officials In New York Taking A Minimum Wage Challenge: Will Live On $97 This Week
Syracuse officials, including politicians and union organizers, are taking a minimum wage challenge by living on $97 this week to urge New York’s state lawmakers to increase minimum wage to $15 an hour, Syracuse reports.
Currently, the state of New York has a set $9-an-hour minimum wage, leaving workers with $360-a-week salary. Unfortunately, after taxes, utilities, and housing, an average of only $97 a week is left.
According to Syracuse, some of the minimum wage challenge participants are as follows:
- Eric Kingson, Colleen Deacon and Steve Williams – Democratic congressional candidates
- Helen Hudson – Syracuse City Councilor
- Sam Young and Kerin Rigney – DeWitt Councilors
- Lawrence Brooks, Pat Greenberg, Michael Czornij, Allison Krause, Ruth Heller, Adrien Valenti, and Mark Spadafore – 1199 SEIU
- Wendy Colucci – AFL-CIO, CNY Area Labor Federation
- Tim Fay – New York State United Teachers Union
- Jerry Lotierrtzo – Alliance for Retired Americans
- Andrea Wandersee – Open Hand Theatre Executive Director
- Dorothy Wigmore – Occupational Health Clinic
- Joy Casey
- Laura Cardoso
This minimum wage challenge was started after Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to increase the minimum wage t0 $15 an hour. According to his campaign, Cuomo believes that nobody should have to live in poverty who works a full time job.
At the minimum wage rally on Sunday that took place outside of St. Lucy’s Church, a woman, Carlita Adamy, shared her experience. She makes $14 an hour as a driver who operates for long-term care facilities and nursing homes, and her husband, Jacob, makes $9 an hour at Solvay Pizzeria. Adamy also shared that they have two children.
“It would be quite a benefit if he earned an extra $6 an hour. Trying to make ends meeting week to week is extremely difficult.”
Adamy explained how difficult it is to buy healthy foods for her children and also announced that she and her husband would take buses to work and she often would walk to the grocery store.
Back in January, according to Daily News, Cuomo spoke at another minimum wage rally in New York.
“New York was built upon the promise that hard work and equal opportunity will lead to a better life. Raising the minimum wage to $15 statewide would be a huge step forward in helping to lift over 2 million New Yorkers out of poverty and begin to deliver on the promise of economic justice for all.”
The Senate’s deputy majority leader, State Sen. John DeFrancisco, said that he doesn’t expect the the $15 an hour minimum wage to be approved by the senate because he doesn’t feel that there is enough economic justification to do so, Syracuse mentioned.
Cuomo spoke at the Christian Cultural Center of his thoughts towards raising minimum wage. Cuomo thought that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would give a person a $30,000 yearly salary, versus $9 an hour minimum wage with an $18,000 yearly salary. He announced that a $15 minimum wage will at least provide families with food, shelter, clothing and other necessary means to have a decent living.
Daily News reports that John Flanagan, the Senate Republican Majority Leader, fears that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would hurt small businesses by making them either shut down or rely more on automation.
If New York approves the $15 minimum wage, it wouldn’t be the first state to approve such a hefty minimum wage.
[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]
