Fair Wages for New Yorkers Campaign

Dec 27 2011
New York City’s existing living wage law applies to workers at businesses performing certain types of contracts for the city. The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act will extend living wage protections to workers on subsidized development projects. In the words of the Living Wage NYC campaign, “Every year, New York City spends billions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize economic development and create new jobs – funding everything from the Bronx Gateway Mall and Yankee Stadium, to the new Goldman Sachs building and the redevelopment of Coney Island. But too often, the jobs created with these public subsidies pay poverty wages with no benefits – whether it’s retail and stockroom jobs at shopping centers, mailroom and security guard jobs in office buildings, or food service jobs at stadiums. By contrast, other cities such as Pittsburgh and Los Angeles require fair wages on many of their subsidized projects.”

Tell City Hall that when our public dollars subsidize private development, 
we deserve something in return:
 good jobs, 
good wages, 
good benefits.


For more information or to endorse the campaign contact Ava Farkas at 212-684-5300 or Email: livingwagenyc [at] gmail [dot] com.

The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act will:

• Guarantee that workers in large development projects receiving public subsidies are paid at least the New York City Living Wage of $10 an hour.


• Index the Living Wage to inflation so that it keeps pace with the cost of living.


• Require that employees who do not receive health insurance from their employer receive an additional $1.50 per hour wage supplement to help them purchase their own health insurance.


• Apply the living wage guarantee to all workers at a subsidized development project, regardless of whether they are employed directly by the developer or by the project’s tenants or on-site service contractors.