NY State Gov Andrew Cuomo wants to raise pay of thousands of fast food workers by asking State Labor Commissioner to form panel to consider the possibility. The amount of an increase was not specified. Fast food workers have rallied however for $15 an hour. Cuomo’s efforts are in sync with efforts across the country. NY Times, May 7, 2015

Gov Cuomo has taken his initiative to the editorial page of the NY Times where he argues that Fast Food Workers deserve a pay raise. He argues: Rather than pulling down the top to close the income gap….”I believe we should do it by lifting up the bottom….by raising labor standards, starting with the minimum wage (of Food Workers.) He points out that contrary to what many people believe, the majority of Fast Food Workers are women-73%- while 70% are over the age of 20, and more than 2/3 are raising a child and are the primary bread earners in their family. Cuomo draws from the arguments of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1938 who successfully launched the Minimum Wage Law, who said: “No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.” See NY Times, May 7, 2015