iSpeak on Minimum Wage

This is not fair. It should be at least $8.00 dollars to $10.00 an hour. Some of the workers that work for minumum wage are heads of house holds. By the time they get their checks, half goes back to taxes. Please raise the minumum to a decent wage!!!

Miriam Escamilla
Patient representative, Montefiore Medical Center
The Bronx, NY

I think it's a very fair proposal. It is very difficult to live on such a little salary. The cost of living in NYC is very expensiv. I am sure that on that salary it is very hard to get by.  I hope this proposal is passed and that the cost of living does not inflate afterwards.

Liliana Mora
Health educator, NY Presbyterian Hospital
New York City, NY

I think that, with the cost of living going up so high and the cost of gas price so high, $7.15 an hour is nothing. I believe that $10.00 an hour will be appropriate.

Richard Bevier
Mat.Mgmt. O.R Supply Coord., Putnam Hospital Center
Carmel, NY

Yes, by all means increase the minimum wages NOW! The USA is the richest country, but we do not take care of our citizens, the working poor etc. the way we should.

Sarah Caliman
Retired, Mount Sinai Hospital
The Bronx, NY

I think the federal minimum should go up to $7.25, because things such as rent, food, transportation and gas go up every year. Nobody could make a living with $6.15 an hour. It's ridiculous.

Rosemary Robles
Clerk, Beth Israel Medical Center
New York City, NY

Raising the federal minimum wage is overdue. In a country where everything is going up, I just can't believe that people in Congress and the Senate whom the people have placed there to look  after them would sit by and do nothing. Having a Republican government in control, I am not  hoping for  anything, because they don't care about the  poor, or middle class who are affected.

That is why we need a change in who controls the Congress.

Jennifer Clarke
Home health aide, All Metro Healthcare
New York City, NY

The new increase is still far behind the cost of living in many places. It should increase to $15-$20 per hour. On the other hand, companies pay a lot of money to their management people. They should also pay more to their non-management workers for the work they do.

Lucas Leung
Lab tech
NYU Hospital Center
New York City, NY

We need to raise the minimum wage. Our minimum rate is now almost half that of Ireland’s. People in the USA are entitled to a living wage

Gerard Eustace
RN, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center
Queens, NY

We need to increase the minimum wages, because our cost of living adjustment (COLA) has risen for our Congress members. It is clear that the gas prices, high taxes, evictions, and poverty force us to deal with the inadequacy of the current minimum salary of $5.25.

Maynard Lantimo
Patient information representative, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center
Queens, NY

No not at all!  We have been working with 5.15 for a long time.  I think they owe us more than $7.15.  At least $10.  They refuse to pay us rightfully and that's why they don't mind the millions of illegal immigrants who will do the work for basically nothing.

Saadi Noel
LPN, Queens Hospital
Queens, NY

Of course the federal and state minimum wages should be raised significantly. The present level is a disgrace.

Naomi Burns
Retired, North General Hospital
New York City, NY

No, it is not. The America I grew up learning about is one of the people, by the people and for the people—not the greedy. We are having workers’ rights eroded faster than they were created. Our national debt is so high, the Republicans are being allowed to cut social programs. And now Congress, "the servants of the people" are giving themselves raises while poorly serving their constituents. When George Washington was elected President, he offered to do the job for free as it was his honor to serve "the great American people." 

Why should Congress decide to give themselves raises? Shouldn’t that be a ballot issue? Where else are people allowed to decide to give themselves better salaries? Why not let Congress’ "board of Trustees"—the American people—decide if they deserve it?

Bryan Holman
Retirees benefit administrator, National Benefit Fund
New York City, NY

Yes, this is a fair proposal because the job responsibilities tied in with jobs now our days are many and more stressful whereby workers are cheated of breaks and comfortable lunch hours.  Thus, if we have to work harder, than let's get paid at a high wage rate. Plus, the cost of living is always rising and the minimum wage is not at an equal status with this.

Frances Garcia-Newsome
Therapeutic recreation specialist, Isabella Geriatric Center
New York City, NY

With the daily rising cost of living, gas prices, food prices, baby sitting fees, rent and other practical costs, there is no way feasible for someone below the poverty line to survive on a meager two hundred and fifty dollars a week. Definitely I think it should be $10 dollars an hour.

Laura Williams
Counselor, Mary Immaculate Hospital
Flushing, NY