Dunkin’ CEO decries $15-an-hour minimum wage in N.Y.

The Boston Globe reports:

The chief of Dunkin’ Brands condemned a New York wage board’s recommendation to increase the state minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 an hour, saying that the pay boost and lack of input from the industry were “absolutely outrageous.”

Nigel Travis, the Dunkin’ CEO, commented on the wage increase during an interview with CNN Thursday.

A board appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday recommended that the state increase minimum wage from $8.75 to $15 in stages, beginning with an initial hike before the end of the year and concluding in the summer of 2021. The wage in New York City would increase more rapidly to $15 by the end of 2018.

In the interview Travis said Dunkin’ supports “reasonable increases in the minimum wage” and believes pay hikes will stimulate the economy. But he argued that the current proposal represents a 71 percent wage increase that would hurt small businesses, Dunkin’ franchisees and young workers.

The demand for labor is a downward sloping.