Associated Press, May 25, 2012

ALBANY, N.Y — Advocates for the poor are getting help from some business operators in their quest to raise the minimum wage.

Costco and small business operators statewide called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Senate's Republican majority to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 an hour.

The bill is sponsored by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

But the Senate's Republican majority calls it a job killer.

A Costco executive said Thursday that the retailer pays a starting wage of $11 an hour and good wages are good business...

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...

By Joseph Spector, 
Albany Bureau Chief
Gannett News Service, May 24 2012
Albany Times Union, Ithaca Journal, Elmira Star Gazette, Westchester Journal News, WGRZ, more 

ALBANY -- A report Thursday said 880,000 workers in New York would have higher incomes if the minimum wage were increased, representing about 10 percent of all workers in the state.The report from the labor-backed Fiscal Policy Institute comes as talks have stalled over increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $8.50 an hour. ...

Some business leaders indicated Thursday they support a minimum-wage increase. Costco and the Greater...

by John Callegari
Long Island Business News, May 24, 2012

A coalition of businesses, large and small, from across New York state joined together today to call on the State Senate to pass a bill increasing the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50. ...

“The proposal to raise the minimum wage to $8.50 next year and adjust it after that is by any measure very modest, especially in a high-cost state like New York,” said Mark Jaffe, President and CEO of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce. “Rather than hurting employers, we believe...

The Remarks Of Speaker Sheldon Silver at Press Conference Announcing Assembly Will Take Up Legislation To Raise The Minimum Wage, Capitol, May 15, 2012

On January 4th of this year, I announced that the Assembly Majority would make increasing the minimum wage a major priority for this legislative session.

Since then, we have done an extensive and thorough analysis. We have introduced a bill (Assembly 9148) to raise New York State's minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 per hour, and to index it to the rate of inflation.

The Chairman of our Committee on...

Excerpt: “By helping to empower New York's employees this city can move more quickly towards more productivity and better conditions for all New Yorkers. Empowerment starts with a living wage - enough pay to support yourself and family through your work,” said Dal LaMagna, President and CEO of IceStone, a company based in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

New York City Living Wage Campaign Press Release, April 30, 2012

Diverse Supporters Praise Legislation as Much-Needed Reform that Will Strengthen the Local Economy and Put an End to the City’s Costly Failure to Create Good Jobs 

New...

Dal LaMagna, President & CEO of IceStone speaks at City Hall in support of living wages for New York workers on April 30, 2012

http://youtu.be/1Zyngk6xjZE

By Jeff Mays
DNAInfo.com, April 24, 2012 

HARLEM—While working for minimum wage at a Target in Queens, Tashawna Green said she often had to make tough choices.

"There were times when I had to decide between paying the rent or buying food," Green, a mother of one, said Monday during a state Assembly hearing on increasing the minimum wage.

"We had to depend on public assistance to make ends meet...because what I got from my employer couldn't pay everything," she said of herself and some of her co-workers.

Harlem Assemblyman Keith Wright, chair of the...

By Jon Campbell and Aaron Scholder
Gannett Albany Bureau, various papers, April 18, 2012 

ALBANY -- Varied opinions on the merits of raising the state's minimum wage were on full display Wednesday, with business groups and Senate Democrats hosting separate events focused on the hourly rate.

The Democrat-led Assembly and Republican-controlled Senate have been at odds over a bill to increase the wage from $7.25 to $8.50 and then tie future increases to the rate of inflation.

Lobbying groups representing private-sector businesses held their annual "Small Business Day" effort at the Capitol on Wednesday, featuring...

Posted by Joseph Spector
Democrat and Chronicle, April 18, 2012

At a Senate Democratic Conference hearing Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Sampson said the push to increase minimum wage in the state is one that’s vital to low-income workers’ ability to maintain a standard of living in the state, Gannett’s Aaron Scholder reports.

“It’s about justice. Making sure that we give the dignity and the quality of life that those employees deserve. Because the more you take care of your employees, your employees will take care of your business,” Sampson said. ...

Senate Democrats said...

By Shannon Young
Associated Press, Feb 28, 2012 

HARTFORD (AP) -- Low-wage workers, economists and others are pushing lawmakers to support legislation that would raise the state's minimum wage during the coming years and eventually tie it to inflation.

The bill, which is being considered by the state's Labor and Public Employees Committee, would raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour, beginning July 2012, and to $9.75 an hour the following year. The bill requires the minimum wage rate to be tied to inflation beginning in July 2014.

If passed, the bill would raise...

St. Louis Post Dispatch Editorial, Oct 25, 2011

Wonder why the folks occupying Wall Street and Kiener Plaza are angry? It's this kind of thing:

Last week, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, the state's biggest business lobby, cheered because the Missouri economy was so weak that the minimum wage would not be raised.

"At a time when Missouri businesses are struggling to provide jobs in today's difficult economic climate, it is good news that labor costs will remain stable and competitive compared to other surrounding states," wrote chamber President Dan Mehan.

Three cheers for low-paying...

By Holly Sklar

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune News Service, July 22, 2011 

Big company CEOs got a 23 percent raise last year and corporate profits are at record highs. But the minimum wage has less buying power now than in 1956 – the year Elvis Presley first topped the charts, videotape was breakthrough technology and the Dow closed above 500 for the very first time.

It’s no accident wages are down while corporate profits are up. As JPMorgan’s July 11 “Eye on the Market” newsletter put it,  “Reductions in wages and benefits explain the majority of...

By Megan Cottrell
Chicago Reporter, June 30, 2011

For the first time in five years, the state minimum wage won't go up today. From 2006 until 2009, the lowest wage that employers can pay their employees went from $6.50 to $8.25. And low-wage workers won't see their paychecks increase unless the Senate moves on a bill, SB 1565, that's currently stalled in committee.

Not only is the minimum wage not increasing in actual dollars, but its value has eroded too. According to Raise Illinois, a coalition of state organizations that are advocating to...