February 12, 2016
By Deborah Axt, Make the Road
New York, NY – The Fight for $15 is simple: No individual – and definitely no parent raising a child – can live on $9 an hour, New York’s minimum wage today. And no one who works hard every day should have to struggle to make ends meet. But that’s exactly what over 3 million people in New York who earn less than $15 an hour are forced to do. It isn’t right and it has to stop.
This year, we have a historic opportunity to take our economy back from poverty wage jobs – and the billionaire CEOs who have kept those wages low for decades – by passing a statewide $15 minimum wage.
$15 doesn’t just mean a better quality of life for hard-working people, it means we can build thriving communities. That’s because $15 will put more money in the pockets of the very people our economy depends on: Workers who’ll spend their wage increase at businesses right here in our community.
Last year, the State Legislature failed to pass a $15 minimum wage. But we can’t let another year go by without a wage that boosts working families and our economy.
We have a historic opportunity this year, and we won’t let anyone stand in our way: Fight for $15!