ALBANY, N.Y. - New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver wants the state??s minimum wage to jump $1.25 to $8.50 in 2013, a proposal that has small businesses worrying about the impact to their bottom line, the Buffalo News reports. Silver??s measure would also tie the starting wage to inflation for automatic increases in 2014. "Nobody will be making more money," said Larry Santora, who owns a pizza chain. "It??s a loss because everything will go up. Everything will cost more. Only the government benefits through taxes."
Silver counters that argument by saying that the new minimum wage is "reasonable. ?? Economic argument aside, this is ultimately a matter of human dignity. No one who works hard and follows the rules should be poor and bereft of hope," he said.
However, business groups point out that such a move would mean fewer jobs. "This would be a sure-fire way to stifle job creation as New York struggles to emerge from the recession. Raising the minimum wage would drive up everybody else's hourly wage proportionately, plus the employer has to pay higher unemployment, workers comp, and so forth. It's an anti-business payroll tax hike, ," said James Calvin, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores.
The jump to $8.50 represents a 17%. If New York retailers could afford to give their employees a 17% raise, they would. But they cannot afford to, especially when state tax policy is driving away our tobacco customers, gas volume and margins are shrinking, and credit card fees continue to wreak havoc with our P&L statements," said Calvin.
"That would be devastating," agreed Michael Newman, executive vice president of Noco Energy. For Noco Express Shops, paying more for minimum wage would translate to less part-time employment opportunities and less flexible hours for other workers, said Newman. "It misses the whole point about what that introductory wage is meant for. Newman said around 40 percent of Noco Express Shops employees are paid minimum wage.
New York last increased its minimum wage in July 2009, when it jumped a dime to reach the current $7.25 an hour. Gov. Andrew Cuomo "has been supportive of previous proposals to raise the minimum wage, and we will be reviewing the proposal through the legislative session," his spokesman said.