Gov. Andrew Cuomo's emphatic call for a minimum wage increase in 2013 energizes an already-charged debate about New York's $7.25-per-hour statutory minimum.
With neighboring states requiring higher minimum wages, a Siena College Research Institute poll showing more than 80 percent of New Yorkers favoring a higher minimum, and legislative leaders such as Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeff Klein naming it a top priority, a higher minimum wage for New York is less a question of "if" than one of "when."
Albany-watchers were baffled in 2012 when the Retail Council of New York State said that our members were open to talking about a reasonable increase in the state's minimum wage. Counterintuitive, they claimed, that the trade association representing those employing thousands of hourly wage earners could contemplate signing off on a plan that would guarantee a raise for minimum wage earners and pressure employers to pay proportionately more to those already earning more than the minimum.
Retailers indeed are wary of the impact that such forces would have on their already-stretched bottom lines. Yet retailers also see on a daily basis the negative effect of dwindling consumer spending power in the face of rising prices.
The merchant knows that he or she must view this debate from two different perspectives — as an employer trying to support his or her own livelihood and that of his or her employees, and as a merchant trying to create and maintain a relationship with the customers walking in the door.
Hence our willingness to respond when asked to have the conversation about a higher minimum wage. And while our members may not be wildly in favor of another potential hit to the bottom line, our legitimate concerns are tempered provided certain safeguards are in place:
Make the increase gradual. No merchant can absorb an immediate dollar-plus-per-hour increase in the minimum wage. The last law increasing the state's minimum did so in three discrete, well-timed stages that afforded business an opportunity to adjust.
Eliminate the annual automatic increase. An automatic annual increase based on the rate of inflation — or any other index — cannot reflect the totality of the circumstances that employers small and large will face at any given time.
Business relies on lawmakers to reflect carefully on all marketplace and societal conditions that would affect our ability to sustain a minimum wage increase. The Retail Council opposes any bill that would include the annual automatic increase.
Provide tangible relief to employers through a simple amendment to state law. New York enacted the "Wage Theft Reporting Act" in 2010 to safeguard workers' rights with regard to the payment of wages earned. One portion of that law requires all employers to provide each employee, on an annual basis, a detailed inventory of wages, withholdings, and other factors affecting their pay.
For employers already giving such information with every paycheck, this new annual requirement is an enormously expensive and redundant bureaucratic burden. New York can preserve the law's intent and save employers millions by eliminating this mandate.
Cuomo said earlier this month that raising the state's minimum wage is "long overdue," pledging to give employers "the time they need to prepare for the change." The Retail Council of New York State wants to respond constructively to his call while emphasizing the concerns of retailers large and small who employ tens of thousands of hourly-wage-earning New Yorkers. It can be done.
Ted Potrikus is executive vice president of the Retail Council of New York State, www.retailcouncilnys.com and www.ishopny.com.