Restaurant owners are urging Gov. Cuomo and state lawmakers to avoid any additional increases in the minimum wage for tipped workers for at least five years.
In a letter to Cuomo and legislative leaders, the New York State Restaurant Association said its members will struggle to cope with the already approved increase in the hourly wage for tipped workers that takes effect Thursday and will not be able to afford any further hikes.
"Employers in the hospitality industry are being hit with a whopping 50% increase to the tipped wage this week," said association President Melissa Fleischut. "The industry needs time to adjust to this dramatic increase.”
Fleischut’s letter was co-signed by more than 100 restaurant owners, who employ over 8,500 workers, reports the NY Daily News.
The minimum wage for restaurant and hospitality workers who receive tips will increase on New Year's Eve from $5.00 to $7.50.
New York’s overall minimum wage is also set to rise from $8.75 to $9 on Dec. 31.
Cuomo, however, is pushing the Legislature to approve an additional increase in the minimum wage to $15-an-hour.
The people that should really be begging Cuomo are those that won't be able to find a job because of the current minimum wage and because of the New Year's hike.
Is Cuomo that clueless about the unemployment that occurs because of minimum wage laws or is he just an evil politician throwing the human flesh of low productivity workers into the crowd of the economic illiterate masses to buy a few more future votes?
-RW
The full New York State Restaurant Association press release on the matter is here.
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