The $15 minimum wage has forced some business owners in New York City to cut staff and raise their prices.
Susannah Koteen, the owner of Lido Restaurant in Harlem, said the minimum wage has directly impacted her business, and she worries that it could get worse as time goes by.
“What it really forces you to do is make sure that nobody works more than 40 hours,” Koteen told reporters. “You can only cut back so many people before the service starts to suffer.”
Thomas Grech, president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, said he has seen an increase in small-business closures since the $15 minimum wage was implemented at the beginning of the year.
“They’re cutting their staff. They’re cutting their hours. They’re shutting down,” he commented. “It’s not just the rent.”
However, 2020 presidential hopeful and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg criticized Christian Republicans for opposing a guaranteed $15 minimum wage.
“The minimum wage is just too low, and so-called conservative Christian senators right now in the Senate are blocking a bill to raise the minimum wage, when Scripture says that whoever oppresses the poor taunts their maker,” he said during the Democrat debate on July 30.
On July 18, Breitbart News reported that the House approved a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $15 by the year 2025.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) praised the bill, calling it “direct help” for working Americans.
“This is direct help. Not indirect. Not trickle down. Direct. It says to those who make the least we think what you do is important,” he commented.
However, Job Creators Network President Alfredo Ortiz fired back at Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) on July 22 after she proposed the minimum wage be raised to $20 an hour.
“America can’t afford a $15 minimum wage, never mind $20,” he said. Ortiz also pointed out the fact that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was forced to cut his own staff’s hours because he cannot afford to pay them $15 an hour.
“It’s a shame Rep. Tlaib didn’t hear that Bernie Sanders is cutting his staff’s hours to meet their demands for a $15 minimum wage. If she won’t listen to job creators about the unintended consequences of a higher minimum wage, maybe she’ll listen to a socialist politician,” Ortiz concluded.
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