De Blasio Raises Minimum Wage To $15 An Hour For 50,000 City Workers
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Many city employees in New York City will earn at least $15 an hour by the end of 2018.
Mayor Bill de Blasio made the announcement Wednesday. The raises will cover 50,000 workers, and apply to every city employee and every employee of contracted social services agencies when the plan is fully implemented, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported.
"It means 50,000 employees, but brothers and sisters we know that means thousands and thousands and tens of thousands of family members are uplifted at the same time," de Blasio said.
De Blasio, a Democrat, has said he wants to raise the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour for everyone, but that the state must agree.
The mayor said the raise will come in steps -- the plan will gradually raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour by the end of the year and $13.50 by the end of 2017. The minimum wage is expected to hit $15 an hour by the end of 2018.
"I have co-workers who are still crossing guards, who live in shelters," one woman told 1010 WINS' Al Jones. "And some are even sleeping on our subway trains."
The announcement comes days after Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he was gradually increasing the minimum hourly wage to $15 for many state university workers.
Last year, Cuomo approved a wage hike for fast food workers, raising their pay to $15 an hour.
Cuomo wants to gradually raise the hourly wage to $15 for all workers, which would be the highest state wage in the nation.
De Blasio had first proposed a wage hike last year.
His plan would affect about 20,000 unionized workers and 30,000 employees of outside organizations whose services are paid for by the city.
The raise will cost the city around $20 million a year as the wage hike takes effect. When asked how the city was going to pay for the costs, de Blasio said it was a 'budget priority.'
(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)