The Assembly has passed a $9-per-hour minimum wage that's tied to increases in the inflation rate. That means the Senate Democrats need to do the same thing and the right thing for New York's 113,000 minimum wage workers, who are struggling to make ends meet on salaries that have been stuck at $7.25 an hour for six years.
All the Senate Democrats — the "mainline" ones and the Gang of Five who make up the Independent Democratic Caucus — agree New York needs an increase in the minimum wage, which hasn't risen here since 2009, even though the number of minimum wage workers rose 25 percent last year, according to The Business Review. But the deal that gave the IDC quasi-leadership status also gave Republicans veto power over big policy issues like the minimum wage.
The bill that makes the most sense is Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's. It calls for $9 an hour with inflation increases — the same amount that President Barack Obama proposed for a new federal minimum wage. House Democrats in Washington did him one better, introducing a bill that would hike the federal minimum to $10.10.
To put this in perspective, a low-wage worker earning $9 an hour would still make less than $19,000 a year. And with New York's high cost of living, $19,000 a year just doesn't cut it.
All of this delaying means the state's lowest-paid workers — even those slightly above the minimum wage — continue to get no help from a Legislature that talks the talk on minimum wage but doesn't walk the walk.
Despite all the talk about how state government no longer is dysfunctional, getting an agreement on the size of the increase — or even if there is one at all — is a crap shoot. The mainstream Democrats say they have 27 votes. Because you need 32 votes to pass a bill in the Senate, the power lies in the hands of the five breakaway Democrats who make up the Independent Democratic Caucus, which proclaims it wants to raise the minimum wage.
Led by Sen. Jeff Klein of the Bronx, and also composed of Sen. Diane Savino of Staten Island, Sen. Malcolm Smith of Queens and upstaters David Valesky and David Carlucci, the IDC has the power to get Silver's bill through the Senate.
Too many workers in New York and throughout our country work hard only to earn wages that keep them mired in poverty.
People like Gregory Reynoso of Brooklyn and Linda Archer of The Bronx. Reynoso, who has a wife and 2 1/2-year-old daughter, is a $7.25-an-hour driver for Domino's Pizza. He says his earnings provide enough money to barely survive — and the cost of rent, food, gas and everything else keeps going up. He delivers food to people all day, but sometimes can't feed his family.
Archer once enjoyed the benefits of a living wage as a nurse's technician and was a member of SEIU 1199. After a draining battle with cancer, she was forced to leave the health care industry for something a little less demanding. She now makes $8 an hour at McDonald's, but has no health benefits.
Gregory and Linda are real people, with real stories. If the IDC would show some leadership, we could help them and hundreds of thousands of people like them.
Klein has to get moving on this and not be swayed by Senate Republicans, who argue that the wage hike will kill jobs and is too much in a struggling economy. They, too, claim the minimum wage should go up, but they want it much lower than $9 and tied to tax cuts.
The IDC — and the entire Senate, for that matter — must find its courage and pass this bill, even though many of us believe $9 an hour is not enough. The reality is that it's far better than what we have.
We can't wait for Washington; New York should lead. And if Albany won't act, New York City should ask for the power to raise the wage on its own. The time is now.
Camille Rivera is executive director of United NY.