POLITICAL ARENA

Wage change

The first thing Councilman Oliver Koppell said at the public hearing for his living wage bill on May 12 was that the contentious legislation was open to negotiation. A month later, Mr. Koppell said he is considering a series of amendments to make the bill
“more acceptable in light of some of the arguments made at the hearing.”

The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act would require any developers who receive taxpayer subsidies to offer a “living wage” — defined as paying at least $10 an hour with benefits or $11.50 without.

Mr. Koppell is considering changing the bill to limit the type of business it would affect, though he said it does not change the focus of the bill. Right now, the bill would require  all businesses with annual revenues over $1 million that received taxpayer subsidies over $100,000 to pay a living wage. Mr. Koppell did not get specific about the changes, but Dan Morris of Living Wage NYC said the annual revenue could be raised as high as $5 million and Crain’s New York Business reported the subsidy threshold could be pushed as high as $1 million.

Mr. Koppell said any changes are “intended to focus the legislation on the large projects, ones that have substantial numbers.”

The target of the legislation is big development projects that use millions in taxpayer subsidies, but result in minimum wage jobs with no benefits. 

The Kingsbridge Armory, the development over which the fight began, would still be affected as Related Companies was offered $60 million in taxpayer subsidies to build a shopping mall there.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. battled Mayor Michael Bloomberg over the armory in late 2009. Mr. Bloomberg supported the space being occupied by a mall developed by the Related Companies. But Mr. Diaz argued that development projects receiving taxpayer subsidies should have to offer living wage jobs. The project died when Mr. Diaz and the Bloomberg administration came to an impasse on living wages. The battle has continued and Mr. Koppell has made changes to the bill as critics, mostly in the business community, have blasted it.