Gov. Andrew Cuomo rallied supporters in Hauppauge Monday to help garner support for his minimum wage and paid family leave plans.

Cuomo wants to see a paid family leave act passed this legislative session. It would make workers eligible for up to 12 weeks of paid time off for personal family medical issues.

The governor also wants to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour, from the current $9 an hour. Under Cuomo's proposal, it would rise roughly $1 an hour per year until it goes into full effect in 2021.

So far, the minimum wage plan has gotten a chilly response from Long Island's all-Republican state Senate delegation, and time is running out. Cuomo must reach a deal with Republicans before the end of the month, when legislators vote on the state budget.

"The legislators on Long Island are key to this discussion. If we win the legislators on Long Island, we win this statewide," the governor said.

Pepe Bonafede, of the family-run Iavarone Brothers Gourmet Foods in Woodbury, says raising the minimum wage wouldn't be good for business.



"If you go to $15 an hour, you're going to put everyone out of business. There's no way to survive on Long Island," he says. "It's getting tougher and tougher between the rent, the payroll, and you can charge just so much for the product."



Cuomo is offering tax breaks to small businesses, hoping to get the Senate to go along with the minimum wage plan.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan of Northport said that he's examining what kind of impact a hike on the minimum wage would have on the local economy. He said he wants to prevent "higher prices for consumers, fewer jobs, or small businesses being forced to close."