Special to the USA TODAY Network
New Yorkers are experiencing the greatest cost-of-living crisis in 40 years. The minimum wage in upstate New York has yet to reach $15 compared to New York City, which has been frozen at $15 for years. With record high costs, families are not earning enough to put food on the table, make rent, and pay for utilities. As the owner of a small business in Rochester, I see firsthand the impact New York’s depreciated minimum wage has on both workers’ livelihood and their ability to spend at local businesses. Now is the moment for New York lawmakers to respond to this crisis with the urgency it deserves. Unfortunately, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan fails to meet the moment.
In her state budget proposal, Hochul outlines a plan to “index” the minimum wage so it automatically rises with the cost of living every year. While I fully support indexing wages, $15 can’t be the starting point. New York’s workers need a significant raise first — a restoration of what $15 would be worth if the minimum wage had been adjusted with rising costs when it was first signed into law. To do that we should pass the Raise the Wage Act to restore the minimum wage to $21.25, and then index it going forward so it doesn’t fall behind again.
The difference between the two proposals is substantial. The Raise the Wage Act would benefit 2.9 million workers with an average annual raise of $3,300, or $63 a week. The governor’s proposal is projected to deliver annual raises of about ...
The Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) has issued a formal apology to Professor Wazi Apoh, Dean of the School of Arts and Professor of Archaeology at the University of Ghana, following the c...