By Ted Phillips
Newsday, May 24, 2012
... “The $8.50 proposal is something that would be very fair for all businesses big and small,” Costco senior vice president and northeastern region general manager Jeff Long said during a conference call. “Since the inception of the company we’ve always believed paying a fair starting wage — to allow our employees to progress through our wage scale — is the best way to grow our business.”
Long said Costco pays higher wages than its competitors which saves the company money because it lets them retain more workers and spend less on training new employees.
The businesses and organizations signed a letter calling for New York to pass a $1.25 wage increase. The Boston-based nonprofit Business for a Shared Prosperity organized the initiative under the auspices of “Business for a Fair Minimum Wage.” ...
The businesses and groups on the conference call countered frequently aired arguments made by the Business Council of New York State and other business organizations that increasing the minimum wage would hurt the economy. Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) has said a hike would be a “job killer.”
Not so, said Mark Jaffe, chief executive of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, who argued the proposed increase should not affect small businesses.
“Obviously some of the retailers, some of the fast food chains with big powerful lobbyists want to make us believe this will chase business out of the state,” Jaffe said. “That’s not indicative of what we got back from our survey of small businesses and civic leaders.”
Jaffe said people who earn the minimum wage don’t have a lot of disposable income and will spend the additional earnings.
“We need to bear in mind that all this money . . . will be spent locally to help our local businesses grow and prosper,” he said.
Copyright 2012 Newsday