Labor & Industry Acting Secretary, Reps. Merski, and Harkins, Erie Child Care Worker Urging $12 Minimum Wage with Pathway to $15 - Governor Tom Wolf

ajangtayu.blogspot.com

​Harrisburg, PA – With polls showing strong support for increasing the minimum wage as red states such as Florida are doing, Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Acting Secretary Jennifer Berrier joined Representatives Patrick Harkins and Robert Merski and an Erie child and home care worker to call for the legislature to raise the wage to $12 an hour with a pathway to $15.

"This is not about $7.25, it's about every worker who makes less than $12 an hour," said Acting Sec. Berrier. "Too many people are working hard, especially at jobs providing services to the public during the pandemic, and still struggling to pay for food or other basic needs. It's time we treat every Pennsylvania worker with respect and dignity by increasing our minimum wage to at least $12 an hour."

Governor Tom Wolf is proposing to raise Pennsylvania's minimum wage to $12 an hour with a pathway to $15 by 2027, boosting incomes for nearly 1.1 million workers and putting $4.4 billion into the pockets of workers in the first year. These workers will stimulate local economies through spending, with a minimum wage increase to $15 boosting Pennsylvania's economy by $321 million in 2027.  Twenty-nine other states, including every state that borders Pennsylvania, have raised the minimum wage above the federally mandated rate of $7.25 an hour.

Red state support

Eight other states are already on path to $15, including red states. In the November 2020 election, voters in Florida – which has a Republican governor and legislature and voted for former President Trump – passed a constitutional amendment to raise its minimum wage to $15 by 2026.

Gov. Wolf signed an executive order in 2018 gradually raising the minimum wage for state employees under this jurisdiction to $15 an hour. President Joe Biden took a similar action in April by extending a $15 an hour minimum wage to all federal contractors and subcontractors. Pennsylvania needs the General Assembly to pass a billing raising the wage for private sector workers.

Voters supports raising the wage

Raising the wage has strong public support. A Franklin & Marshall College poll released in March found 67 percent of registered Pennsylvania voters support raising the minimum wage to $12 an hour as the governor is proposing.

"I have worked for many years as a caregiver, taking care of some of the most vulnerable people in our community, while also being unable to care for my family because of the poverty level minimum wage," said Erie County United Member Jasmine Flores. "It's past time for the PA legislature to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and allow municipalities to set local minimum wages that meet the needs of their citizens." 

Erie County United works to build a multi-racial movement for long-term change around issues of equitable development with environmental protections, increasing the minimum wage, criminal justice reform, and support for workers organizing in unions. Erie County United is a chapter of Pennsylvania United, which builds membership-based chapters in small cities and towns across Western PA. 

Key findings from the Keystone Research Center show the workers who would benefit from a $15 minimum wage include:

• 76 percent are age 20 or older (850,657 workers);
• 27 percent are age 40 or older (299,715 workers);
• 13 percent are age 55 or older (154,730 workers);
• 38 percent are working fulltime (426,966 workers); and
• 62 percent are women (691,122 workers).  

Since the last time the minimum wage was increased, its purchasing power has dropped by nearly 17 percent.

MEDIA CONTACT:  Sarah DeSantis, dlipress@pa.gov

# # #

Adblock test (Why?)

"industry" - Google News
May 12, 2021 at 11:35PM
https://ift.tt/3ocPpT9

Labor & Industry Acting Secretary, Reps. Merski, and Harkins, Erie Child Care Worker Urging $12 Minimum Wage with Pathway to $15 - Governor Tom Wolf
"industry" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2RrQtUH
https://ift.tt/2zJ3SAW

Bagikan Berita Ini