By James T. Madore
Newsday (LI), March 20, 2013
Advocates of raising the minimum wage Tuesday hailed a tentative deal among the state's top leaders to boost the wage to $9, while opponents were relieved the increase will be phased in. ...
The tentative deal, to be included in the state's 2013-14 budget, calls for the minimum to climb to $9 an hour by the end of 2015, according to aides to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, the Assembly's Democratic majority and the Senate's governing coalition. ...
John J. Corrado, president of Suffolk Transportation Service Inc., said Tuesday the apparent agreement in Albany would benefit the occupants of corner offices and the rank and file.
"This will allow workers that have lost jobs to re-enter the workforce. . . . It will increase spending, and that will be beneficial to the economy," he said.
Corrado, whose Bay Shore company employs 1,500 workers operating school buses and Suffolk County public buses, joined other executives, union leaders and advocates for immigrants at a Woodbury event to celebrate the likelihood that the wage rate will be going up. ...
Jon Cooper, president of Spectronics Corp., a Westbury-based maker of ultraviolet equipment and fluorescent materials, called the Albany pact "a step in the right direction, but it's not a living wage." He is a former leader of the Suffolk County Legislature's Democratic majority.
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