Memo: New York Voters Support Providing Equal Pay Protections for All Workers
By Kyle C. Barry Senior Legal Counsel, The Justice Collaborative Institute and Saru Jayaraman Director of the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley
Executive Summary
New polling reveals bipartisan support for policies that will build a fairer economy for all workers and level the playing field for service workers who depend heavily on tips and the wider workforce. These results show that New Yorkers support changing the status quo and do not want the economy to simply return to how it was pre-pandemic. Instead, officials and political actors should seize on these results to guarantee that we move toward a society in which all workers earn a liveable wage—one fair wage for all workers.
Our polling of New York voters shows that:
Eighty-seven percent, including 83% of Republicans, support changing federal minimum wage laws to require that the minimum wage be applied to all workers, regardless of whether they are in an industry where tips are customary.
Eighty-four percent, including 84% of Republicans, support including tipped workers at the federal minimum wage in any government program to cover lost wages from the coronavirus pandemic.
Seventy-three percent, including 53% of Republicans, support the government paying 100% of lost wages for workers who lost their jobs, or face reduced work hours, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Seventy-four percent, including 65% of Republicans, support raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and automatically adjusting the amount each year to account for national cost of living increases.
Eighty-percent, including 67% of Republican voters, support requiring any company that accepts funding as part of a government bailout to pay workers a living wage of at least $15 an hour.
Fifty-four percent agree that the economic challenges faced by tipped workers will likely be worse for them after the economy re-opens.
Sixty-two percent agree that the coronavirus pandemic has shown that we take the work of many low income workers for granted, and the goal after the pandemic should be to have a more fair economy for all workers.
