- Archives

A campaign to raise New York's minimum wage cleared the final political hurdle Monday, meaning it will bump up to $6 per hour in January and to $7.15 per hour in January 2007. The state Senate, by a vote of 50-8, overrode Gov. George Pataki's veto of the wage hike, saying an increase was overdue. The Assembly overrode the veto in August. Meanwhile, Pataki disclosed he is negotiating with American Indian tribes to put as many as five casinos in the Catskills, two more than authorized. Pataki and lawmakers also discussed other long-running issues, including reforming the state budget process and collecting sales taxes on cigarettes and gasoline sold on Indian reservations. But no deals were immediately forged. Lawmakers, who originally planned to be at the Capitol for just one day, said they would stay over until today as talks continued. The one issue addressed Monday was minimum wage. Pataki, a Republican, had said the federal government should handle minimum wage and that raising it here would hurt New York business. But his Republican colleagues who control the Senate disagreed. The wage hike was about "making sure we treat working men and women in this state with dignity," said Sen. Nicholas Spano, R-Yonkers, one of the sponsors of the bill. . Unions and the Working Families Party hailed the passage of the bill, which they had been advocating for six years. [more] and [more]