 |
| Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times |
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and state legislative leaders...reached a budget agreement that would raise the minimum wage in New York City to $15 by the end of 2018, but initiate slower increases elsewhere, even in the city’s wealthy suburbs.
For Mr. Cuomo, the wage agreement came with clear concessions, as some lawmakers outside the city won a softer phase-in period. Long Island and Westchester County will not reach a $15 wage for nearly six years; areas north of Westchester are assured only of reaching $12.50 by 2021. The plan also included another caveat for the city: Businesses with 10 or fewer employees will have nearly four years to institute the wage increase in New York City.
In announcing the $15 wage, New York became the second state to embrace that threshold; California lawmakers passed a similar measure only hours earlier. The movement began in earnest in New York City in late 2012, when fast-food workers began the so-called Fight for $15, which became a nationwide effort to increase wages and support unions.
With the minimum wage deal and another hard-fought measure — one that would eventually provide employees across the state 12 weeks of paid time off to care for newborns or sick relatives and for families dealing with military deployments — the governor was able to claim victory on two signature issues.
The governor, a Democrat, also announced a plan for billions in income tax cuts beginning in 2018 — affecting families earning less than $300,000
Under the family leave plan, agreed to by Senator John J. Flanagan, the Long Island Republican who serves as the majority leader, and Carl E. Heastie, the speaker of the Democrat-dominated Assembly, state residents will be eligible for such leave starting in 2018 after working for six months at a job. The leave would eventually be extended to 12 weeks, and would be funded by deductions from employees’ pay.