The Patriot Post® · New York Decrees $15 Minimum Wage for Some

Where’s the fairness? The New York Fast Food Wage Board voted 3-0 Wednesday to raise the minimum wage for fast food workers in the state to $15 by 2018 for the city and by 2021 for the rest of the state. “This is not really about wage boards and hearings and hearing officials,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a rally celebrating the decision. “This is about something more important and more fundamental and profound. This is really about who we are as New Yorkers and what we believe. And what we believe in New York is that there should be opportunity for all and there is fundamental fairness for all and there is justice for all.” Yet Cuomo didn’t show a fundamental fairness when the board he convened in May made its decision, a decision that circumvents the legislative branch, the representatives of the people. And where was that fundamental fairness in only raising wages in a certain industry? The wage hike only applies to workers in fast food restaurants that have more than 30 locations nationally. Seems like someone in the governor’s office wanted to court a narrow constituency. Reuters reports that legal challenges will be coming from business groups that believe the law discriminatory. They should challenge the law. While Cuomo invoked the name of Franklin Delano Roosevelt for this most recent wage hike, Roosevelt was only a statist; Cuomo is behaving like a tyrant.