ALBANY, N.Y.—A proposal to raise New York’s minimum wage to $15 an hour will serve as a national model, Gov. Andrew Cuomo told thousands of rallying workers March 15, and act as an antidote to the economic insecurity in the state and around the country that he says is poisoning the nation’s political discourse.
The rally outside the Capitol comes as the Democratic governor’s proposal to gradually increase the wage from $9 to $15 faces a critical test in the state Legislature. The Assembly’s Democratic majority supports the plan, but the Republican leaders of the Senate warn of potentially dire effects on the economy.
While he never mentioned Donald Trump by name, Cuomo clearly referenced the Republican presidential front-runner when he said raising the wage would benefit millions of working families whose economic insecurity and fear is now being exploited by politicians who seek to capitalize on their anger.
“You want to build walls. We want to build bridges,” he said. “They say they want to make America great again. We say you don’t know what made America great in the first place ... We are going to show the nation the way to go forward: We’re going to go forward together.”
Many among his audience had traveled to Albany from New York City on union buses. Cardinal Timothy Dolan offered a prayer before Cuomo spoke, telling the crowd “we need all the help that we can get, right?”
