From shop owners to industry titans, city business leaders yesterday cranked up pressure on City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to make sure she holds her ground against a proposal that would force city companies to pay their workers for sick days.
A letter signed by 177 business owners was delivered to Quinn, a 2013 mayoral candidate, in response to a renewed push to advance the bill by the labor-backed Working Families Party and women’s-rights groups.
“A growing number of employers in this city are small start-ups, including many women-, minority and immigrant-owned firms. These are the job creators who will be hurt most by the extra costs associated with a paid sick-leave mandate,” the letter from the Coalition for a Healthy Economy reads.
“We hope you will not concede to their pressure tactics.”
Quinn has repeatedly said she will not consider the bill, which she shelved in 2010, but has left the door ajar for reviewing it when the economy improves. In the meantime she has passed two wage mandates of smaller scope.
Sponsored by Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan), the bill would require companies with more than 20 employees to offer nine annual paid sick days; businesses with 19 or fewer workers would have to provide five days a year.
Brewer is working on several amendments to the 2010 bill, including one to exempt businesses with fewer than five workers.
She said small businesses across the city would not be hurt by the bill, but nearly 200 business owners disagreed.
Henry Meer, who runs City Hall Restaurant in TriBeCa and signed the letter, said he ensures his 54 employees get additional shifts so they don’t lose money if they take sick days.
“From a small-business standpoint, I think it’s a killer,” Meer said.
“I don’t think anybody’s looking at it as what it’s going to cost small businesses to staff that job [when a worker] is at home supposedly sick.”
Farid Ali Lancheros, co-owner of Bogota Latin Bistro in Park Slope, said the bill would hurt his revenue.
“Every penny counts in a food business. That money that’s left behind needs to be invested wisely to grow the business,” said Lancheros, who signed the letter. “A bill like this would hurt, would chip away whatever’s left behind and inhibit our growth and prohibit us from creating jobs.”
Prominent and politically wired business leaders who signed the letter include Suri Kasirer, a major city lobbyist, Kathy Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, and Tishman Speyer Chairman Jerry Speyer.
Mayor Bloomberg yesterday also reiterated his opposition.
“This is not a good bill. This is a bill that would reduce employment in the city when we need employment in this city. And this populist thing — we’re going to protect everybody from everything — just isn’t consistent with having jobs for everybody.”
Sherry Liewant, co-president of A Better Balance, a group that is part of the NYC Paid Sick Days Coalition, defended their push for paid sick days.
“When hardworking New Yorkers have to choose between their family’s health and their jobs, it’s not just unfair — it’s also unhealthy for workers, businesses, and for the economy.”
Additional reporting by Liz Sadler