Council defies mayor on wage and banking bills

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Source: www.crainsnewyork.com --- Tuesday, May 15, 2012
A City Council that is increasingly flexing its muscle against Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday overrode his rejection of a prevailing wage bill and passed a banking bill that set the stage for another veto. The Council voted 44 to 4 to override the Mayor's attempt to stop a bill that mandates prevailing wages to property service workers at projects receiving $1 million or more in city subsidies and in buildings where the city pays most of the rent. The wages are set by the city comptroller and are based on the going rate in the private sector. Security guards, for example, would earn as much as $14.35 an hour plus benefits, while porters in some residential buildings would get $20.77 plus benefits. Mr. Bloomberg vetoed the measure last month, calling it ?a throwback to the era when government viewed the private sector as a cash cow to be milked, rather than a garden to be cultivated.? He said it was ?not the way the free market works? and threatened to sue if the council enacted it. In his veto message, he said the bill usurped the power of the state in setting a minimum wage and infringed upon the Mayor's land-use powers. ?In overriding this veto we're sending a message that our city economic development policy must produce family-sustaining jobs,? said Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, the measure's prime sponsor. ?We must do all we can to say that those benefitting from doing business with the City of New York must do rig ...

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