Saturday, June 24, 2006


Minimum Wage Update


Despite the failure of the Republican-led Congress to do the right thing with regard to the minimum wage law, PTF would like to applaud our home state legislature of Pennsylvania, whose Senate voted 36-14 on Thursday to raise the state's minimum wage from a current $5.15 an hour to $7.15 by July 1, 2007. The first increase, to $6.25 an hour, will start on January 1st, followed by the full increase to $7.15 in July.

The Senate bill has one hitch - an exemption for small businesses with ten or fewer employees. These businesses will follow a pay schedule of $5.65 and $6.15 in the time frame, being required to move to the full $7.15 in 2008.

There is hope to have this exemption removed, as the House passed its own legislation with no exemptions in April. There is a week left in the Pennsylvania legislature prior to their two-month summer recess.

While not perfect by any means, this legislation will represent a significant increase in wages for the working poor of Pennsylvania. Congratulations to State Senate Democrats, who managed to put pressure on Republican leadership, in coordination with labor unions and advocates for the poor to bring this vote to the floor.

Perhaps U.S. Congressional Democrats could take a page from our Democrats here in Pennsylvania in how to make this legislation work on a Federal level.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Posted by FleshPresser at 12:55 AM /

1 Comments

  • Blogger Unknown posted at 10:42 PM  
    Once again there is consideration for the small business that those against the increase won't tell you about. There is no historical data I can find that shows businesses collapsing after a federal minimum wage increase by the way.

    • Post a Comment

    « Home