Fast Food Workers In New York State Will Officially Soon Be Making $15 Per Hour

Joining Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, New York will be the latest place in America to implement a mandatory $15 minimum wage. Governor Cuomo approved the measure on Thursday, and it will go into effect over the course of six years across the state, and within three years for New York City, according to Fox News. Right now, the bill will only affect fast food workers, but Cuomo expressed confidence that it will galvanize efforts in other low-wage jobs, as well as across the country.

"Every working man and woman in the state of New York deserves $15 an hour," the governor told the jubilant crowd of union members at a press conference. "We're not going to stop until we get it done."

In New York, the new minimum wage law will affect 200,000 employees. Meanwhile, President Obama remains committed to raising the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour.

Earlier this summer, we reported that New York fast food franchise owners threatened to sue if the measure were actually passed, saying that they were unfairly singled out, and will be put at a competitive disadvantage.