Living Wage deal struck

Koppell speaks on the living wage as Diaz (right) and Quinn (left) look on.

After multiple compromises, a living wage deal has apparently been struck in the City Council.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the second-to-last major barricade in passing the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, announced her support of a new living wage bill. The last barricade is Mayor Bloomberg, who still does not support the bill, renewed his vow to veto the bill.

However, with Quinn's support, the City Council should be able to garner the 34 votes needed to override the Mayor's veto.

"There is nothing more important for government right now than the work of creating and retaining the best jobs we can," Quinn said in prepared remarks delivered today (full remarks below the jump).

"As Speaker, one of my jobs is to do all that I can to keep and create jobs in New York and to make sure those jobs provide people with the resources they need to support their families."

As everyone already knew, "I could not support the original living wage bill as it was introduced," she said. "The requirement that tenants in subsidized projects pay more when the city has no financial connection with them is a provision that I believe would have cost us future retail jobs. Placing this requirement on businesses that don’t receive a direct benefit is simply unfair."

That being said, Quinn said it was necessary to have the businesses that directly take money to pass the benefit along to their employees.

"I believe it is fair and appropriate for government to place requirements on a business that has voluntarily entered into an economic development agreement with the City. At the end of the day, they have a choice as to whether or not they want both the money offered to them and the wage requirements."

A living wage would require certain developers of direct, significant city subsidies to pay their employees at least $10 an hour with benefits or $11.50 without.

Local leaders around the city have applauded the compromise, the second Bronx-related compromise with the city this week. The first, which elevated the living wage debate into the spotlight, was the issuing of the request for proposals for the Kingsbridge Armory.

“I am extremely happy that we have reached an agreement on the ‘Fair Wages for New Yorkers’ Act, and that this important bill will finally see a vote in the City Council," Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said. "The deal we have reached today creates the strongest ‘living wage’ legislation in the nation, one that will demand that direct recipients of significant taxpayer subsidies do better by their employees."

Diaz had City Council members G. Oliver Koppell and Annabel Palma introduce the bill on his behalf.

“This bill will ensure that taxpayer subsidies are used to improve the quality of life of New Yorkers. Today’s announcement is a victory for the people of this City, and I look forward to this legislation becoming law,” Diaz said.

Palma not only applauded the compromise, but also noted that there is now a fight going on for a minimum wage increase at the state level and that it should elevate to the federal level.

“This hard-wrought agreement will help a number of New Yorkers secure jobs that pay a living wage and I am grateful for the support of my colleagues and all of those who have been vocal advocates of this bill," Palma said.

"Additionally, it is encouraging that Speaker [Sheldon] Silver is carrying the fight against income inequality in Albany," she said. "I commend him for highlighting the need for a State-wide minimum wage increase tied to the cost of living. I am further encouraged that this idea is picking up steam on both sides of the aisle, with Mayor Bloomberg’s strong endorsement in yesterday’s State of the City address.

"I also urge our Federal representatives to engage in the conversation on economic inequality that is occurring across the country. People throughout our nation are struggling to survive by working low wage jobs, yet it has been over a decade since Washington increased the federal minimum wage. It’s time for our leaders in Washington to get serious about the challenges ahead and the reforms that will be necessary to fix an economy that too often fails our working people.” 

City Comptroller John Liu also released a statement, saying, “This living wage agreement will ensure

better use of public subsidies for private business and help reverse the widening wealth gap in our City. The City Council and the Living Wage Coalition are to be commended for their tenacious effort in getting this accomplished.”

Quinn's prepared remarks:

"For the past year, we have had a debate in the City Council about how to bring more jobs to New York in a way that raises salaries and does not stagnate job growth.

"Some have said we should do that by letting the market run its course. Some have said that we should do it by replicating what many major cities in America have done: place a wage requirement on any jobs that are developed through public subsidies. Others have said we should go a step further and put that same requirement on tenants of developments that are built with public subsidies.

"I want to thank everyone who has offered support, opposition, data, agreement and disagreement on all three of these perspectives. This has been a worthy debate.

"There is nothing more important for government right now than the work of creating and retaining the best jobs we can.

"As Speaker, one of my jobs is to do all that I can to keep and create jobs in New York and to make sure those jobs provide people with the resources they need to support their families.

"I could not support the original living wage bill as it was introduced.

"The requirement that tenants in subsidized projects pay more when the city has no financial connection with them is a provision that I believe would have cost us future retail jobs. Placing this requirement on businesses that don’t receive a direct benefit is simply unfair. 

"That said, I want to be clear that more needs to be done to raise the wages of retail workers, and I want to thank in particular Stu Appelbaum for articulately raising that issue.

"Today, I also want to announce that I, together with my colleagues Oliver Koppel and Annabel Palma, will introduce a new piece of legislation next month. This legislation will require companies that receive substantial subsidies from the City of New York to pay their employees a living wage of $10 or $11.50, depending on benefits.

"I believe it is fair and appropriate for government to place requirements on a business that has voluntarily entered into an economic development agreement with the City. At the end of the day, they have a choice as to whether or not they want both the money offered to them and the wage requirements.

"This is a policy that is fair, one that will help workers, will not deter job growth and is one that I am honored to support.

"I want to thank Oliver Koppel, Annabel Palma, Ruben Diaz and Stu Appelbaum, who have been valiant in their efforts to raise the issue of the needs of low paid workers.

"I also want to thank Kathy Wylde, the Partnership for New York City and the business and real estate community, who have worked with us to ensure that jobs are protected and encouraged, and that the future of our city’s economy is strong.

"No one bill can single handedly raises wages for all minimum wage workers. But we will take a fair and philosophically sound step forward.

"Legislation is powerful but by its nature it can be limited. The issue of raising the salaries of workers in a way that promotes job growth is complicated and deserves a more comprehensive response than just legislation.

"That is why I believe that our city’s Economic Development Corporation must have a policy goal of negotiating development packages that result in not just the recipients of subsidies creating higher wage jobs, but also their tenants. That is what we negotiated with the Domino Sugar Factory project.

"The power of a negotiating process is that it provides the ability to craft each deal differently. In fact, both Los Angeles and San Francisco have achieved most of the jobs where they have raised salaries through the negotiations of their economic development corporations and the policies those agencies have set.

"EDC should also use other measures at its disposal, such as giving higher points in an RFP process for applicants who have wall-to-wall higher wages.

"As I’ve said, this is complicated. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach when trying to cover tenants and retail workers who have not gotten a direct subsidy.

"We need to explore other models beyond legislative mandates.  That is why in next year’s capital budget we will allocate money to the Economic Development Corporation and work with them to put out and RFEI and eventually and RFP to developers and retailers who are looking for subsidies that would place a requirement that tenants pay a living wage.

"I believe that is an exercise that will help us and EDC determine how to best structure future programs."