Working It Out

The 2015-2016 budget was a mixed bag for organized labor. They were able to block several proposals they opposed, but also struggled to successfully lobby for the passage of bills benefitting workers. As we head into the end of the session, there is little reason for more optimism, as the dynamics in the respective Assembly and Senate chambers don’t appear to have shifted dramatically, despite the shake-up in leadership.

Topping the list of topics for labor groups has been the extension of the 421-a tax abatement program for developers—something we explore at length in our housing session countdown.

Several other high-profile agenda items are receiving a lot of attention in the media, though they are not likely to be tackled in the final days of the session, when labor issues will take a back seat to the items lawmakers are forced to address.

Minimum Wage

Under current state law the minimum wage is $8.75 an hour. It will rise to $9 an hour at the end of the year. And while there has been little support among state Senate Republicans for boosting the minimum wage, public polls showing support for an increase have opened the door for some discussion about a bump in the hourly wage for workers.

In his budget proposal, Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed increasing the minimum wage to $11.50 in New York City and $10.50 for the rest of the state, but that initiative was left out of the final version of the spending plan. He then called for the wage to be increased to $10.10 starting in July. His plan would also allow municipalities, primarily New York City, to increase the minimum wage up to 30 percent above the state wage—which would work out to $13.13 an hour.

Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan has said his conference has no appetite to increase the minimum wage until the current round of increases take effect at the end of this year.

Nationally, there has been a push for a $15-an-hour wage that has been led in part by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who called on Albany to take action in his budget address. The Democratic-led state Assembly did pass a $15-an-hour minimum wage, but Cuomo and Flanagan have both said $15 an hour is not a viable option.

A further sign that an increase in the state minimum wage is unlikely for the end of the session was Cuomo’s decision in early May to bypass lawmakers and push to specifically increase the wage for fast food workers to $15 an hour through an executive action. Cuomo instructed the state Labor Department to empanel a Wage Board to hold hearings and make a recommendation.

In an op-ed appearing in The New York Times, Cuomo took aim right at the CEOs of fast food companies.

“Nowhere is the income gap more extreme and obnoxious than in the fast-food industry,” he wrote. “Fast-food C.E.O.s are among the highest-paid corporate executives. The average fast-food C.E.O. made $23.8 million in 2013, more than quadruple the average from 2000 (adjusting for inflation). Meanwhile, entry-level food-service workers in New York State earn, on average, $16,920 per year, which at a 40-hour week amounts to $8.50 an hour.”

If the Wage Board votes to recommend an increase, the hike would target only larger multibillion-dollar organizations, and leave small businesses immune from an increased minimum wage—a move that has helped silence Cuomo’s critics on the left and provide state Senate Republicans some political cover.

Pension Disability Reform

In 2009, then-Gov. David Paterson vetoed a pension bill. At the time, the state was in a financial crisis and he thought the additional benefits would be bad for the long-term fiscal health of New York. That veto had an unintended consequence: It cut the disability benefit payout for new uniformed employees—firefighters, police officers and sanitation workers. Now, if a first-year firefighter is injured on the job and cannot return to work, they will walk away with less than $30 a day.

Typically, in order for this to be reversed in New York City, the City Council would have to issue a home-rule amendment that would allow Albany to pass a correction. But the de Blasio administration has been criticized for holding up this process, and it responded by saying more time was needed to put forth an amended plan. When that plan was released, increasing the disability payouts for new hires but not to the pre-2009 levels, the backlash was fierce.

In a joint letter, the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association and the Uniformed Firefighters Association said the mayor’s proposal “was fashioned without any input from the PBA and UFA and would not provide equal disability benefits, and may in-fact worsen the inequality.”

Late last week, de Blasio amended his plan to match pre-2009 levels, offering pensions equal to 75 percent of injured workers’ salaries, but the unions said it just wasn’t enough.

As the public fight plays out, the state Legislature is considering moving ahead without the City Council’s approval. The state Senate passed bills to fix this loophole by a vote of 56 to 0. The Assembly has been waiting for the home-rule bill, but is starting to indicate it may not wait any longer. At a City Council hearing on the matter last month, Assemblyman Peter Abbate, chairman of the Committee on Governmental Employees, took aim at the mayor, saying he is trying to run out the clock at the end of the session.

“They are delaying, delaying, delaying. They don’t want to do this. I hope the (City) Council doesn’t fall for what they are doing anymore,” Abbate said.

In a follow-up interview, Abbate told City & State that he really doesn’t want to act without the City Council’s approval, because “if we do that, there is no purpose to have a City Council.”

*Both Assembly Labor Chairwoman Michele Titus and Senate Labor Chairman Jack Martins declined multiple requests to speak with City & State about their end-of-session priorities for this section.

Paid Family Leave

Federal law allows all employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid family leave. But for most families, going without a paycheck is not a realistic option. At a hearing in March, Senate Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeff Klein said, “I think we can all agree that most families cannot afford to take one week of unpaid family leave, let alone 12 weeks.”

In a surprise move, Klein was able to insert a paid family leave bill into the Republican-controlled state Senate’s one-house budget bill. His plan did not go as far as the Assembly’s version, passed weeks earlier, and eventually the plan was dropped from budget negotiations. As the session comes to an end, the measure is still being debated—but it looks unlikely that the technical details will be hammered out in the final days.

Last Wednesday, advocates for the Assembly’s version of the bill, which calls for 12 weeks of paid leave at two-thirds regular salary, rallied outside the Senate chamber to urge their colleagues to pass their version of the bill.

Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer, a member of the Assembly’s Labor Committee and sponsor of the paid family leave bill, dismissed talk of reaching compromise with the plan floated by the Senate before the budget—which calls for six weeks of paid leave at half regular salary—saying there is overwhelming political support for the Assembly version. 

“I don’t see a compromise as being necessary at all,” Mayer said. “(The Assembly) passed a totally reasonable, business-friendly, positive bill for every constituent, every member. This is a really great bill. They should just do it.”

The chambers’ proposals also differ in how the paid time off would be funded. The Assembly is calling for a tax in paychecks of about 45 cents a week. While this would impact workers, the Assembly sponsors argue it would not impact businesses. The Senate version would have been partially funded through the state general fund.

Senate Republicans and the Independent Democratic Conference have not submitted a new bill after the plan was dropped from the budget, and they say adopting the Assembly’s plan is a non-starter because of the funding model.

What Got Done

• Assembly and Senate passed a package of pay equity bills that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has promised to sign

What's on the Docket

• Prevailing wage requirement for 421-a projects
• Bill allowing veterans to buyback up to 3 years of pension credits