Russo: Hoboken should be at the forefront of raising minimum wage to $15

Part-time workers in the City of Hoboken, some making just $8.67 an hour, may soon see an hourly increase – a trend that the Mile Square City should be at the forefront – according to 3rd Ward Councilman Michael Russo.

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Charles Hall of Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union (RWDSU) Local 108 addressed city council on the minimum wages for part-time employees of Hoboken, many who “work as hard as full-time employees but do not have the benefits.”

“I’ve asked that you look very closely at wages for part-time workers in your city. The wages may range anywhere from, now after four years of [our] contract, there’s wages as low as $8.67 an hour.”

Hall asked the city council to evaluate the cost of living in the City of Hoboken and consider its employees in the sanitation department, crossing guards, laborers, and parking enforcement officers, adding that now is the “opportunity here to take care f your own.”

In early February, U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross (D-2) and state Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) announced bills regarding gradually raising the NJ’s state and federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, per NJ BIZ.

3rd Ward Councilman Michael Russo said he has already looked into this, previously requesting Business Administrator Quentin Wiest to provide a wage analysis after these bills were announced.

“There is a push nationwide, and certainly in this state, to try to achieve the goal of $15 minimum wage and the city of Hoboken should be in the forefront of that.”

He once again asked Wiest to provide the analysis to the council members so that they can make a decision on how to increase the hourly wage.

“We absolutely have an obligation as elected officials to look into it, look at the data, look at the numbers, see how much of an impact that we have on our city’s payroll to raise the minim wage,” said Hoboken Councilman-at-Large David Mello.

Hoboken City Council President Jennifer Giattino asked 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher to look into the analysis at an upcoming Finance and Revenue subcommittee meeting as the next step in the process.

Once that meeting has concluded, the city council members will discuss how to move forward at a subsequent meeting.

The Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders passed a measure supporting a $15 minimum wage in New Jersey back in October, while Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-32) introduced a plan to gradually build the minimum wage up to that rate back in February.

One week after the legislative initiative took place, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop signed an executive order raising the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour (h/t NJTV).