Duffy to Cuomo: Rethink $15 for all

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s former right-hand man is urging the state’s top boss to reconsider plans for a statewide $15 minimum wage.

Former Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy, now president and CEO of the Rochester Business Alliance, joined a chorus of local workers and many of Cuomo’s toughest critics in considering something other than a unilateral wage increase.

Duffy said members of the Rochester-based business organization have said its members would be forced to cut jobs and hours as well as increase prices for customers. He urged Cuomo to consider the impact of an across-the-board increase.

"If this wage hike is enacted, Rochester Business Alliance asks for an equal offset from the state for all impacted businesses in the form of tax cuts and workers' compensation and unemployment insurance savings," Duffy said. "An equal or greater offset of savings for business can make this situation a win for all sides."

Cuomo announced plans earlier on Thursday for the wage increase at a rally attended by Vice President Joe Biden and about 1,200 downtown workers.

"If you work full time, you shouldn't have to live in poverty — plain and simple," Cuomo said. "Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour will add fairness to our economy and bring dignity and respect to 2.2 million people, many of whom have been forced to live in poverty for too long."

The announcement came on the same day that acting State Labor Commissioner Mario Musolino signed an order making the minimum wage $15 an hour for fast-food workers at large chains in upstate by July 1, 2021. Those in the New York City area would get it by Dec. 31, 2018.

Cuomo wants a statewide minimum wage increase to mirror the phase-in period for those fast-food workers, which has already faced strong criticism from pro-business groups and Republicans. Earlier this year, the governor appointed a three-person wage board to examine the issue of raising the minimum for fast-food workers to get around roadblocks in the state Legislature.

In March, Cuomo stumped in Rochester for a more modest increase in the minimum wage. His latest proposal would increase the minimum wage by almost 70 percent, said Assemblyman Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua.

"The governor's proposal will make the environment even worse," said Kolb. "We will not create more jobs in New York state if we make it more expensive to hire workers."

Proponents of increasing the minimum wage have long said that it would boost the economy, combat stagnant wages and help get people out of poverty and off public assistance.

"I support $15 minimum," said Lisa Armstrong, who works at McCall Mini Mart, just off Dewey Avenue. "I can barely get by on $8.75. Something's got to give."

Daniel Ross runs Zen Tattoo on Lake Avenue and said raising the minimum wage is needed since wages haven't increased along with the cost of living — but questioned why it was only for fast-food workers.

"There are EMTs and highly trained professional people who have gone to college and barely make $10 an hour," he said. "There are people who put their lives at risk every single day. ... Fast-food service jobs are not meant to be something for making a living on. It's an after-school job."

​Others thought it would create greater hardships on small business, which make up a majority of the Rochester-area economy. "Today’s announcement of a new push for a statewide minimum wage of $15 is an affront to small employers in every corner of this state," said Mike Durant, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Wages for tipped workers, already at $5 an hour, are scheduled to increase to $7.50 an hour at the end of 2015. Christine Bailey is one such worker; she earned a bachelor's degree at St. John Fisher and is now serving tables at Max Rochester on Gibbs Street.

"Instead of stimulating economic growth and wage parity, it will backfire," she said. "My fear is that many of the businesses will be required to adjust in a very catastrophic way — by having to close or cut back on quality. We may ultimately find that many of these workers will find themselves forced to use unemployment insurance."

John Hutchings ran the Downtown Fitness Club and DFC Allstate Insurance Agency before selling them both earlier this year. He currently operates Fitness Edge Media, a small fitness-based company that publishes a magazine and has a radio show.

"Some businesses will close because they aren't innovative enough to re-deploy their workforce or unwilling to try," he said. "It's not for lack of 'want to' that people are paid low wages, it's for lack of creativity in structuring or deploying a workforce. A successful enterprise would have to motivate a staff to produce $20-an-hour work for $15-an-hour pay to stay solvent ... but that's always been the challenge."

Paul Mabelis, who works at Acme Bar & Pizza on Monroe Avenue, was torn about the prospects of a higher minimum wage, noting it could lead to job cuts.

"I could lose my job if my employer doesn't want to pay that much," he said. "I make less than $15 and love my job, so where does that leave me if that occurs?"

TCLAUSEN@gannett.com