Mayor vetoes maintenance workers wage bill, plans to reject another

Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed a bill yesterday that aimed to increase the wages of maintenance workers in privately owned buildings that have business with the city, the New York Post reported. Bloomberg also said that he would also veto a separate living wage bill that the City Council is expected to pass.

The bill would have given maintenance workers wages over $20 per hour, as long as they work in buildings that receive city subsidies of $1 million and more. The living wage bill would set a minimum wage of $11.50 per hour for businesses that also get $1 million or more in subsidies from the city. The City Council is expected to pass the bill next week, the Post said.

In a speech detailing his decision to veto the bill and plans to veto the other one, Bloomberg said the bills “are throwbacks to the era when government viewed the private sector as a cash cow to be milked, rather than a garden to be cultivated… I share the desire to see people earn higher wages and salaries, but there are no shortcuts. Government can’t bend the laws of the labor market without breaking the bank — and destroying job prospects for people who most need work.” [Post] and [Post]