Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo publicizes his proposal to foyer the state to lift town’s minimal wage to $20-an-hour if elected mayor throughout a rally with labor supporters in Midtown Manhattan. Wednesday, Might 28, 2025.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday gathered with labor teams backing his mayoral marketing campaign to announce that if he’s elected to Metropolis Corridor this 12 months, he’ll push the state authorities to spice up New York Metropolis’s minimal wage to $20 per hour.
Cuomo, the front-runner within the fast-approaching June 24 Democratic main, unveiled his pledge to lift town’s minimal wage by 2027 throughout a Might 28 rally at 1199SEIU’s Manhattan headquarters. The proposal would apply to the roughly 800,000 metropolis employees at present eligible for the state minimal wage, in response to Cuomo’s marketing campaign.
He additionally obtained a number of endorsements from labor teams, together with the Retail, Wholesale, and Division Retailer Union (RWDSU) and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU).
Members of the District Council of Carpenters rally with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo as he publicizes his proposal to lift the NYC minimal wage to $20-an-hour if he’s elected mayor. Wednesday, Might 28, 2025.Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
The previous governor — who stepped down in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment and that he mishandled COVID-19 in nursing houses, each of which he denies — stated he can get the proposal over the end line as a result of he did so earlier than when he handed a $15 minimal wage in 2016. Cuomo predicted that he’ll face resistance from the enterprise neighborhood, political pundits, and different elected officers in his newest effort if he’s elected mayor.
“We did it before, and we’re going to do it again, we raised it to $15,” Cuomo stated. “The highest minimum wage in the United States. And what happened when we did it? The economy went up, not down.”
Cuomo stated the rise is roughly equal to what the statewide minimal wage would have reached if his 2016 plan had been listed to inflation on the time.
The proposal additionally features a research town would conduct on the cost-of-living, to be accomplished by Jan. 1, 2027, that can be utilized for indexing the minimal wage going ahead. Moreover, it could be paired with a tax credit score for small companies with 10 or fewer full-time workers.
Hurdles in Cuomo’s marketing campaign promise
Mayoral candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo pitches a $20-minimum-wage for New York Metropolis to a crowd of labor union supporters throughout a Midtown Manhattan rally. Wednesday, Might 28, 2025.Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Nonetheless, Cuomo’s pledge wants the signoff of Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislature, who collectively raised the minimal wage to $16.50-an-hour within the metropolis this 12 months and have listed the state charge to inflation beginning in 2027.
He didn’t elaborate on how we might obtain that aim in his ready remarks, nor did he take questions following the occasion — as an alternative leaving by means of a again exit and waving to reporters by means of his automobile window as he drove away by means of a purple mild.
As a substitute, Cuomo merely stated he would depend on organized labor to get the proposal handed in Albany.
“We get it passed the way we’ve gotten every progressive reform passed in the past 30 years,” Cuomo stated. “We organize the working men and women of this city. What organizes the working men and women of this city? The labor movement.”
Cuomo spokesperson Wealthy Azzopardi stated the previous governor plans to do what he did in 2015 and 2016 to get the proposal greenlit — “coalition build.”
When requested why Cuomo didn’t index elevating the minimal wage to inflation in 2016, Azzopardi stated, “We passed the plan we could pass,” pointing to the issue of getting it by means of the then Republican-controlled state Senate.
Former Gov. and mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo.Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
The previous governor, nevertheless, was not all the time on board with elevating the minimal wage within the 5 boroughs.
In 2014, he rejected a proposal from then-Mayor Invoice de Blasio to provide town home-rule energy over elevating its minimal wage, arguing it could create a “chaotic situation” and was an authority that must be reserved for the state.
Azzopardi insisted that de Blasio “never presented a plan” on the time.
Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander, one in every of seven Democrats operating towards Cuomo within the June 24 main, stated by means of a spokesperson that Cuomo was the “biggest obstacle” to employees preventing for higher wages when he was governor.
“New Yorkers remember Andrew Cuomo famously declared war on labor unions,” Lander spokesperson Dora Pekec stated in a press release. “New Yorkers remember Andrew Cuomo famously declared war on labor unions, and won’t be fooled by his insulting, desperate attempts to rewrite history.”
