Democratic Conference Leader Stewart-Cousins "Raise Up NY" Press Conference

On Wednesday, April 30th, Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins spoke at the Raise Up NY press conference in support of her bill that would allow municipalities to raise the minimum wage and why this is important for the women of New York State. Organizations including Make the Road New York, the Labor Religion Coalition, and Citizen Action of New York were present and raising their voices for a living wage. Leader Stewart-Cousins described the current regimented increases as inadequate and slow and brought up the troubling statistics which show women to be the majority low-wage earners both in the United States and in New York. With women making up 55% of the minimum wage workers, the Leader described the disparity to be “unacceptable nationally and unacceptable in New York.” The press conference included several other senators and assembly members including Senators Krueger, Stavisky, Hassell-Thompson, Montgomery as well as Assemblymember Shelley Mayer and others. Each speaker drove home the point that it is women who suffer from the state’s low minimum wage and women who would use the wage increase to invest in their families.