ALBANY — State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos made his opposition to raising New York’s minimum wage clear yesterday in a stinging reply to an appeal from his Democratic counterpart.
In a letter to Senate Minority Leader John Sampson (D-Brooklyn), Skelos (R-LI) charged Sampson ignored studies showing a hike would cost small businesses money and kill jobs, particularly for young, unskilled workers.
Skelos claims the studies show Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s (D-Manhattan) plan to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $8.50 could cost typical businesses as much as $2,800 per full-time employee.