Op-Ed By David Bolotsky
New York Daily News, June 9, 2014
Small business owners like myself across New York have something to cheer about following Gov. Cuomo’s recent pledge to raise the minimum wage to $10.10, index it to inflation, and allow localities to set their wage floors above the state level.
Raising the minimum wage is really a matter of fairness for small business owners, who overwhelmingly pay above the minimum wage already, yet are forced to compete with large out-of-state corporations that choose to pay rock-bottom wages while making billions in profits each year.
A company like UncommonGoods, which pays our warehouse workers a minimum of $12 per hour, should not have to face a race-to-the-bottom with our competitors paying just $8 per hour. Boosting the wage floor would level the playing field while also protecting workers from poverty wages.
Business owners also deserve more predictability over their payrolls, which is why it makes sense to index New York’s wage floor to automatically rise with inflation each year rather than rising unexpectedly whenever the Legislature decides to act.
It is much easier for a business to manage 2-3% increases in the minimum wage than 5 years of no increases followed by a 15% spike. Thirteen states across the country have passed legislation to index their minimum wage. New York should follow suit.
Raising the minimum wage can also provide a little-known benefit — it can save taxpayers money by enabling workers to support themselves. When wages are too low, workers must rely on public assistance like food stamps and Medicaid in order to survive.
Raising the wage floor will ensure that companies like Walmart or McDonalds pay a decent wage rather than relying on taxpayer funding to pay their workers.
Finally, it’s really a matter of common sense to allow cities and counties to raise their minimum wages above the state level to reflect differences in the local cost of living.
Just as it costs more to live in 2014 than it did in 1984, it’s more expensive to live in New York City than in Utica. New York City's cost of living is closer to San Francisco’s than to many areas upstate — but while New York City's minimum wage is just $8 per hour, San Francisco now guarantees workers a minimum wage and benefits standard of $13.18 per hour.
In higher cost areas of the state, business owners naturally pay more for rent, transportation and supplies. It makes sense that wages would be higher as well.
Across the state, 74% of small business owners agree that New York’s minimum wage should be raised to $10.10 and indexed to inflation. And two-thirds of small business owners say that cities and counties should be able to set their own minimum wage rates higher than the state level to account for the local cost of living.
Decent pay is a no-brainer for New York's economy and for local businesses. The governor deserves praise for committing to this long-overdue priority. Now it's time for Albany to act.
David Bolotsky is founder and CEO of UncommonGoods, an online and catalog retail business based in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Copyright 2014 David Bolotsky