As the battle over whether to raise the minimum wage heats up in Albany, some laborers are pressing their case in a musical fashion.
In a new video on YouTube, restaurant workers stacking dishes, shaking drinks, chopping onions and plating burritos take a moment to lip-sync and dance along to the 1959 Motown hit “Money (That’s What I Want).â€
What they want, more specifically, is a $9 minimum wage. That’s what President Obama proposed in his State of the Union address that it be by the end of 2015, with earlier increases made in stages. His plan gave a push to Democrats in Albany who had initially wanted a wage of $8.50 (Gov. Andrew M. uomo last month called for an $8.75 minimum as of July).
The minimum in New York currently stands at $7.25, or about $14,500 a year for a 40-hour week and a 50-week year, and has not increased since 2009. Workers who receive tips have a base minimum of $5 an hour.
The video, created for the lobbying group Strong Economy for All and the worker-advocacy group Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York, uses the original recording by Barrett Strong. Tim Murphy, one of the video’s creators, said that permission was not sought and royalties were not paid for the use of the song and recording, but that it was for a noncommercial use.
