By Matt Glynn
Buffalo News, Feb 26, 2013
... Both Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and President Obama have backed increasing the minimum wage. Monday, the Coalition for Economic Justice, State Sen. Timothy M. Kennedy, D-Buffalo, and various advocacy groups and unions said an increase is needed to bring low-wage earners above the federal poverty line.
“It is time to raise the minimum wage to benefit our workers, stimulate our economy and strengthen our communities,” Micaela Shapiro-Shellaby, organizing director of the Coalition for Economic Justice, said at a rally on Franklin Street in downtown Buffalo.
Some state lawmakers want to increase the minimum wage to $9 an hour starting in January 2014. Their proposal also would link the minimum wage to the cost-of-living increases starting in 2015 “so we don’t have to have this conversation every nine years,” Kennedy said. That approach also would help businesses plan for incremental increases, he said.
Someone earning the minimum wage and working 40 hours per week makes $290 before taxes, Kennedy said. “They’re forced oftentimes to rely on safety net programs and other public subsidies just to make ends meet, to feed their families,” he said.
Betty J. Martin, president of the Transportation Aides of Buffalo, said an increase in the minimum wage is needed to keep pace with the cost of living.
“Everything is going up, from groceries to gas, and not our paychecks,” she said. “We have people who are working out here for this city who are not even able to get their medicine, cannot go to the doctor’s [office], cannot get hospital appointments because they are told even though they make minimum wage, they make too much money to get Medicaid, they make too much money to get food stamps, and they have no other resources.” ...
There is even some debate in the business community on the issue: For instance, the group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage has called for raising the pay rate to at least $8.75 an hour and adjusting it annually for the cost of living. ...
email: mglynn@buffnews.com
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