Assemblyman Democrat Sheldon Silver introduced new legislation to increase New York State’s minimum wage today. The proposed law will increase the current $7.25 an hour to $8.50 an hour and become permanently fixed to the inflation rate by 2014. Silver said the increase would "give flight to the American dream." more ›

City Council Speaker and presumptive mayoral candidate Christine Quinn announced a compromise on the controversial living wage bill yesterday. While it would require companies who receive substantial tax benefits from the city to raise employee wages to $10/hour with benefits or $11.50/hour without, according to Crain's the law would only apply to direct employees of the companies who receive benefits, not their tenants, thus significantly narrowing the initial scope of the legislation. more ›

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. more ›

Today the City Council is holding a hearing to discuss revised Living Wage bill, which would require some companies receiving city tax breaks pay employees $10 an hour plus benefits or $11.50 without. (The current minimum wage in NYC is $7.25.) The big question is how Speaker Christine Quinn would vote (assuming she allows the bill to come up for a vote). Quinn, a Bloomberg protege, has kept mum on whether she supports the legislation, which is staunchly opposed by the Bloomberg administration. Yesterday Deputy Mayor Robert Steel sent a letter to a long list of people and organizations who contacted him about the bill, and explained why his boss opposes any requirement to pay workers enough to "live." more ›

Not only did the new study completely ignore the new (more business-friendly and therefore watered-down) version of the Fair Wages For New Yorkers Act, it failed to take into account hard data from actual cities like LA and yes, New York, when calculating the supposed damage done by raising pay. The study "takes place in an unrecognizable New York City where real estate values never rise and 40,000 retail jobs weren't added over the past decade," James Parrott, chief economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute says in a blistering rebuttal [pdf]. more ›

Whaddaya know, the study that Mayor Bloomberg requested on a proposed living wage law has determined exactly what Bloomberg wanted to hear: That requiring developers who receive taxpayer subsidies to pay a living wage would actually hurt employment in NYC. The NYC Economic Development Corporation spent $1 million in taxpayer money to pay a Boston-based consulting firm (they couldn't even source it locally!?) to produce the controversial study, which City Hall News notes was co-authored by a professor who's seen by some as having a long history releasing reports slanted against the adoption of wage mandates. more ›

In June, the city's Industrial Development Agency decided to pay $1 million to economists to study a living wage proposal for workers on city-backed developments. But now, Agency board members Comptroller John Liu, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. aren't so sure that study will be completely unbiased. Their representatives wrote, "The study will be subject to the biases of a study team that is being chosen by the mayor's office." And that bias would most likely be against a wage raise. If that's the case, then maybe he hasn't heard about the rent recently. more ›

As expected, Mayor Bloomberg doesn't want NYC developers who get taxpayer subsidies to have to pay workers more than minimum wage. Two City Council members from the Bronx are introducing legislation that would require developers who receive public subsidies worth more than $100,000 to pay workers at least $10 an hour, plus benefits. But Bloomberg says that's crazy, and will kill growth. more ›

Two City Council members from the Bronx are set to introduce legislation that would require developers who receive taxpayer subsidies to pay workers at least $10 an hour, plus benefits. Despite opposition from real estate groups, similar laws have been passed in cities such as LA, San Francisco and Santa Fe, N.M. But after fighting off a fair wage mandate for the defunct Kingsbridge Armory development last year, the Bloomberg administration is expected to try to kill this bill, called The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. more ›

After postponing two votes, two City Council subcommittees voted against a $310 million proposal to transform the Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping Mall. NY1 reports, "This is the first time the current City Council, that which was voted into office in 2001, has voted against a major Bloomberg administration proposal." more ›

Last month the City Planning Commission approved a controversial plan to turn the Kingsbridge Armory, a massive red-brick castle in the Bronx, into a mall that will include a large department store, shops and a movie theater. But critics of the $310 million project insist the developer should not get the green light unless future mall employees are guaranteed a living wage. Opposition was intense yesterday at the City Council subcommittee's public hearing to decide whether to approve rezoning. more ›