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Cuomo in his January budget recommended raising the minimum
wage to $11.50 an hour in New York City and $10.50 elsewhere in
the state, only to see that proposal rejected by the state
legislature.
But Cuomo, a Democrat, wrote in an editorial in the New York
Times that state law allowed him to independently impanel a Wage
Board to determine what adequate pay should be across the state.
"On Thursday, I am directing the commissioner to impanel such a
board, to examine the minimum wage in the fast-food industry,"
Cuomo said in the editorial. "The board will return in about
three months with its recommendations, which do not require
legislative approval."
Cuomo said the Wage Board could "set fast-food workers on a path
out of poverty" as well as ease the financial burden on
taxpayers and create a new national standard.
"Some argue that we can close the income gap by pulling down the
top," he wrote. "I believe we should do it by lifting up the
bottom. We can begin by raising labor standards, starting with
the minimum wage."
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Ken Wills)
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