Senator Carl L. Marcellino (R-Syosset), member of the Senate Labor Committee, announced on Dec. 8, that the Senate recently voted to override the veto which prevented New York State from increasing the minimum wage. The bill, cosponsored by Marcellino, increases the minimum wage in New York, over a three-year period, to $7.15 per hour on Jan. 1, 2007. Small businesses are asking the legislature to come to their aid to help them cope with this additional increase in the cost of doing business.

"This action will bring the state's minimum wage into the 21st century. The minimum wage is not a Senate - Assembly issue. It is not a Republican - Democrat issue. It is not an urban worker - rural worker issue. It is a human rights issue. It is an issue that needed to be faced squarely, fairly and realistically. This senate vote is good for every laborer from Montauk to Buffalo and from Staten Island to Plattsburgh," said Marcellino.

"For years, we have seen bills come before the legislature which would increase the minimum wage. This new law is a comprehensive approach for economic viability that will mean a better life for our workers today and tomorrow," he concluded.

The actual increase will happen gradually. Under the legislation voted upon recently by the senate, the minimum wage would increase to $6 an hour on January 1, 2005, to $6.75 on January 1, 2006 and to $7.15 on January 1, 2007.

The senator's office researched the question of wages in his district, Huntington and Oyster Bay. They found that while the minimum wage is currently $5.15, most fast food restaurants on Long Island start their employees at $6.42. The Huntington and Oyster Bay area pay $6.50 at McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy's. In the area of retail sales, Wal-Mart and Target pay an average of $7.25; grocery stores like Waldbaum's pay about $6.25. The research showed the senator that our minimum wage jobs workers are making significantly more than the $5.15 minimum wage. The sampling was done in February 2004, said Kathy Wilson, the senator's director of communications. She said there is a great variety of minimum wages country-wide: Washington - $7.16; Alabama - $7.15; Connecticut - $7.10; Oregon - $7.05; California and Massachusetts - $6.75; Hawaii, Maine and Vermont - $6.25; Delaware, Rhode Island and Washington D.C. - $6.85; Illinois is $5.50. The increase in minimum wage in New York state hasn't been done in several years, she added.

While the senator sees the increase as great for workers, the Support Services Alliance, Inc. (SSA), a membership organization consisting of nearly 15,000 small businesses across New York State, is disappointed by the legislature's override of Gov. George Pataki's veto of legislation to raise the state's minimum wage.

The senate originally passed S.7682-A in July to raise the state's minimum wage.

"The Senate has just given small business across this state a lump of coal for their stockings," said Chris Koetzle, vice president of Membership Services for SSA. "In a year when small business relief stalled on virtually every front in the legislature, we inexplicably get hit with a minimum wage hike."

He said, as a result of the override, many small-business owners will now have to find a way to pay for a 38 percent hike in wages and related costs, or face the prospect of scaling back their workforces. Even in small businesses that currently pay above the minimum wage, owners will now be expected to raise pay to keep workers at the same level above the minimum wage. In addition, many small businesses in New York will now be at a competitive disadvantage with competitors in neighboring states where the minimum wage will remain at $5.15 per hour.

"Small business is widely recognized as the backbone of the state's economy. Next session, it is critical that the legislature come to the aid of small business to help us cope with this additional financial burden," said Koetzle. "The legislature must begin reducing - and stop increasing - the cost of doing business in New York State."

SSA provides small businesses of 50 employees or fewer with a wide variety of programs and services, including group health insurance, payroll administration, government advocacy and employee benefits administration. SSA's corporate office is in Oneida, with its operations center located in Schoharie.