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PEP Jul-Aug 2016
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Public Employee Press

The Fight for $15 victory


During the recent negotiations for new contract with the City University of New York, DC 37 convinced the administration to extend the state's new $15 an hour minimum wage to its workers.

The side agreement will benefit thousands of DC 37 members who currently earn less than $15 an hour.

"This action will substantially boost the wages of thousands of CUNY workers and other DC 37 members, and it reaffirms New York's commitment to reducing inequality in the state and city," DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido said.

In April, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law to increase the minimum wage in New York from its current rate of $9 an hour to $15 an hour by 2021.

Businesses must adopt the $15 rate in 2018 in New York City, where the minimum wage will be implemented more quickly than in the rest of the state.

Back in January, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $15 minimum wage for city workers, including some 20,000 DC 37 members.

But CUNY employees earning less than $15 were not covered by the state and city changes in the minimum wage until CUNY agreed to cover its employees at DC 37's insistence during bargaining.

As a union that represents many modestly paid workers, DC 37 has embraced the national Fight for $15 movement, which originated with fast food workers.

The movement has raised public awareness of the struggles of low-wage workers and sparked efforts around the country to raise the minimum wage. New York State and California are the first states to increase their minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Under the schedule of the state's new minimum wage for New York City, CUNY workers' pay will go up to $13.50 an hour at the end of 2017 and to $15 an hour at the end of 2018.

The recently negotiated tentative contract will actually put most low-paid CUNY employees above a $12 an hour rate, that goes into effect at the end of the year. If a newly hired employee's hourly rate is below the $12 minimum, it will be raised to the new minimum.

 


 
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