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Activists: New NY Minimum Wage Not Enough

Hunger Advocates Call on Lawmakers
Dave Lucas/WAMC
Mark Dunlea of the Hunger Action Network of New York State

Wall Street may be booming but Main Street is still struggling:  activists vow to push for an even higher minimum wage in New York.

Although some say an American revival is underway, activists argue the current “recession recovery” has been the weakest in American history. Mark Dunlea with the Hunger Action Network says we’ve only seen about half the normal number of jobs come back into the economy:

“And what we're also seeing  as that  we've lost middle class paying jobs and what is being restored is the poverty level wage jobs,  and of course a lot of times those jobs end up, you know,  being a second job for somebody, because the first job isn't enough to make ends meet.”

Dunlea says his group is disappointed with how low New York’s minimum wage increase was, and plan to continue to campaign to set the bar higher as soon as the new increase is signed into law

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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