Living Wage Bill Gets Push From Public Advocate De Blasio, Silence From Quinn

In a letter sent yesterday to Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said it's time to take action on a Living Wage bill. The bill, which is currently in limbo in the City Council, would require some companies receiving city tax breaks to pay employees $10 an hour plus benefits or $11.50 without. De Blasio is expected to face Quinn in the Democratic primary for mayor, and the debate over a living wage has put Quinn in a difficult position, because the business community and her mentor Mayor Bloomberg are firmly opposed to it.

In his letter (below), de Blasio calls the bill an "immediate and important" step for the city. "Over  the  last  decade,  we  have  not  done  enough  to  grow  the  prospects  of  all  New  Yorkers," de Blasio wrote in the letter. "  Government  must  assert  itself  as  a  force  on  the  side  of  the  middle  class,  using  all  tools  to  encourage  economic  activity  that  creates  jobs,  and  ensure  that  workers  experience  the  benefits  that  are  associated  with  that  economic  activity.   This  has  not  been  the  City’s  approach  to  date  in  its  contracting  process,  pension  investments,  or  in  the  regulation  of  businesses.   In  no  place  is  the  potential  for  that  role  stronger,  and  the  missed  opportunity  greater,  than  in  the  case  of  the  economic  development  subsidies  that  the  City  dispenses  through  the  Economic  Development  Corporation. "

But de Blasio is calling for one change to the bill: protecting smaller businesses by increasing the amount of annual revenue, from $5 million, that a business must earn to cause the requirement to kick in. Quinn's spokesperson tells the Times, "We appreciate his input." It's up to Quinn to call for a vote on the matter, and she has yet to indicate where she stands. Last month Bloomberg's Deputy Mayor Robert Steel warned that the bill would jeopardize affordable housing projects and cost the city entry-level jobs, as well as skilled construction jobs as "many projects become financially unfeasible."

Living Wage

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By John Del Signore in News on December 19, 2011 11:43 AM

Comments [rss]

canofpeas

Who needs a living wage when you can scam social services, get a shit load of welfare, move upstate to your own gated religious community and work at producing as many children as possible, all with the state's and Bloomberg's blessing.

Donny_Moss

The Center for Urban Justice recently released its 2011 report card which grades Council Members on their human rights voting record. Christine Quinn received the lowest score in the entire City Council. What's even worse is that she has killed human rights bills that have a veto-proof majority of sponsors in the Council. The sick pay bill is a recent example. How is democracy served if Christine Quinn can simply kill a bill that has a veto-proof majority?

randomtransplant

Quinn is all for "human rights" with her impassioned speeches when its her own friends and family on the line, but as soon as its something objectively good which doesn't directly benifit herself, she's totally spineless.

"the debate over a living wage has put Quinn in a difficult position, because the business community and her mentor Mayor Bloomberg are firmly opposed to it. "

She is unwilling to be a strong leader - just think how little she'll do for her consituants when the elections over and she's actually needed even more.

Mordicai

If we repealed minimum wage & child labor laws, just think of how many businesses we could attract to New York!

BottomlessChips

If we repeal the Patriot Act, the terrorists will kill all of us

/yourlogic

Mordicai

Maybe this is like the Sixth Sense, & the terrorists already have killed all of us? Oooooooh!

BottomlessChips

I prefer to think we're living in a Fight Club kind of world.

Mordicai

I'm just your totally awesome, totally handsome, totally cut, totally multi-personality inner socialist!

BottomlessChips

Let's make this city as expensive as possible...

J R

Interesting to see how postings of some substance get so fewer comments, than say a post about a burger or a celebrity siting...

SFNY

Maybe because we recently went through this discussion:
http://gothamist.com/2011/11/2...

unretrofiedforu

What's there left to discuss?

We know the 87% can't survive like this much longer while things are getting progressively worse. And there is still no acceptance by said 87% that their wages have remained stagnant! They still blame themselves!

What's left to discuss? How a bill with obvious good intentions will fuck up our economy even more?

You wanna see an example of how markets break down? You can't force a land owner to pay their serfs fairly if there isn't a market forcing them to do so.

SFNY

It won't "fuck up our economy even more."

One example is SF, which has had living wage requirement for over a decade (11 years). And there are 140 other cities across the US. Something like 100 more cities are introducing ordinances as well. Baltimore since 1994, San Jose since 1998, LA, DC, Boston, Jersey City, Milwaukee... If you want to go global, look at the UK, Switzerland, and Australia. It's been proven out time and time again.

The current objections to a living wage are total bullshit. When people have to work only one job to live, they tend to spend the rest of their time spending money.

http://laborcenter.berkeley.ed...

There are at least four pertinent studies. "The authors evaluate the costs and benefits of a living wage ordinance implemented at the San Francisco Airport (SFO). Impacts of these policies are measured in terms of wages, turnover, worker morale, work effort, and employment, all of which improved. The authors find that pay for low-wage workers rose dramatically at SFO as a result of the ordinance, and earnings inequality among low-wage, non-managerial workers declined significantly as well. The study concludes that there was no overall employment loss, and that additional costs to employers are negligible."

Stan_LS

I don't know about Australia, but UK and Switzerland is pretty expensive. Check out the big mac index... Raising the minimum wage will raise the prices, lower sales - good bye jobs!

As for SF - awesome, yes, let's look to California when it comes to advice on economics. They are doing great over there!

SFNY

Don't concern yourself with the details of living wage initiatives, just keep on lumping a successful county-level program in with a state-wide economic problem.

JeremiahToo

We're all still too hungover to picture Christine Quinn this early. Give us a few hours and something to settle the stomach....

splicernyc

Ask Ed Koch what he thinks of a living wage. I remember him saying that certain people shouldn't live in this city if they couldn't afford what it costs. I'm sure commuting from the Poconos is convenient.