New minimum wage simply doesn’t add up  Let’s do some math
regarding the recent hike in the state minimum wage.  The number
of Democrats elected to the State Senate: 33.  The number of
Republicans elected to the State Senate: 30.  The number of
senators who said they supported raising the minimum wage right
away to $9 an hour: 32 (a majority).  The percentage of New York
voters who supported raising the minimum wage: 80 percent.  Then
how did we come up with a minimum wage hike of only $8 an hour
this year? Sen. Jeff Klein and his Independent Democrat
Conference. Five Democrats gave power to the minority
Republicans in order to make “democracy work” better.  Money
low-income workers will lose by delaying the minimum wage hike
to $9 an hour over three years, and then no indexing: $1.2
billion. Maybe more. Money that workers could have used to feed
their family, pay the landlord or utility company or buy
clothes. And tip workers were dropped. They now have to wait for
the Labor Department to rule on a new wage