WCBJ
WESTCHESTER COUNTY
BUSINESS JOURNAL
YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS | westfaironline.com
March 18, 2013 | VOL. 49, No. 11
Workers suPPorT JoB seCuriTY Bill
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BY SAM BARRON sbarron@westfairinc.com
M
ore than 150 workers showed up at a Westchester County Board of Legislators meeting March 11 to express support for a bill that would require companies purchasing large commercial or residential buildings to retain the building’s maintenance and security workers for 60 days. Legislators held the public hearing for the Displaced Building Service Workers Protection Act with a line of workers on Martine Avenue in White Plains snaking around the block. The bill applies to residential buildings with more than 75 units and commercial buildings of more than 75,000 square feet and to workers who make less than $25 an hour. They include janitors, groundskeepers, cleaners, superintendents and window cleaners. New building owners would be required to retain all workers for 60 days at a salary of the owner’s discretion, though workers could still be fired for cause or overstaffing during that period. After 60 days, the owners would be free to keep or lay off the workers. “This legislation will help improve standards for workers and ensure stability and continuity of services for our clients who are commercial property owners,” said Jeremy Bressler, vice president of
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remaking Main street page 13
Partners Glen Vetromile, left, and Philip Raffiani at the razed site of their apartment development in Tuckahoe.
New York close to minimum wage hike BY SAM BARRON sbarron@westfairinc.com
Despite opposition from state and local business groups, New York state is close to passing an increase in the minimum wage. After a wage hike was overwhelmingly approved in the Democratic-controlled Assembly, lawmakers in the Senate are negotiating an increase to New York’s current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The majority coalition composed of Republicans and independent Democrats, including state Sen. Jeffrey Klein, have proposed increasing the minimum wage this year and
gradually increasing it over the next three years, though they have not specified by how much. Republicans are looking for $2 billion in tax breaks for businesses to offset an increase. The bipartisan coalition introduced the bill last week as part of negotiations on the state budget. The Assembly approved a bill to increase the minimum wage to $9 an hour, with automatic increases tied to inflation. while Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has proposed increasing the minimum wage to $8.75 without automatic increases. Twelve states have a higher minimum wage than New York. The push for a minimum wage increase Wage, page 6
Workers, page 6
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