Senator Tartaglione, Colleagues Launch Women Supporting Working Women Campaign

Senator Tartaglione, Colleagues Launch Women Supporting Working Women Campaign

Philadelphia, PA – March 15, 2021 – State Senator Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia) today joined First Lady of Pennsylvania Frances Wolf, Second Lady of Pennsylvania Gisele Fetterman, and many of the senator’s General Assembly colleagues to launch the Women Supporting Working Women campaign. A recording of the even can be viewed at www.PayPAWomen.com.

“As we celebrate women’s history throughout March, it is important that we continue to make history by advancing gender equality,” Senator Tartaglione said. “It is unacceptable in 2021 that women continue to earn less than men for comparable work. And it is unacceptable that our low-wage workforce is disproportionately comprised of women. Raising the minimum wage would help correct these injustices.”

State Rep. Patty Kim (D-Dauphin) hosted the virtual news conference, which was also broadcast live via www.PASenate.com/live and on the Facebook page of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus.

“This event brings together strong women leaders from different branches of government and all walks of life,” Rep. Kim said. “Our common goal here is to raise the minimum wage and support working women and their families. We want to hear your stories, as well as ask for your support. Working together, we can achieve anything.”

Visit www.PayPAWomen.com to learn more about how raising the minimum wage can help working families, the campaign, and how to get involved.

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If you would like more information about this topic, please contact William Kenny at 215-533-0440 or William.Kenny@pasenate.com.

 

Tartaglione Applauds Governor’s Executive Order Raising the Minimum Wage for State Employees, Contractors

Tartaglione Applauds Governor’s Executive Order Raising the Minimum Wage for State Employees, Contractors

PHILADELPHIA, PA, June 28, 2018 – State Sen. Christine Tartaglione applauded Gov. Tom Wolf’s signing of an executive order today that raises the minimum wage for state employees and contractors to a level matching the provisions of legislation introduced by Tartaglione in the Senate earlier this year. The executive order raises the minimum wage for state employees and contractors to $12 per hour effective July 1, and institutes incremental annual increases that will raise the minimum wage to $15 in 2024. After then, the minimum wage would be tied to annual cost of living adjustments.

Sen. Tartaglione issued the following statement regarding the executive order:

Gov. Wolf’s executive order represents a major step forward for state employees and contractors, and for the cause of fair, family-sustaining wages across the Commonwealth. As we have seen through many recent national events, workers have been under attack by forces that seek to stifle their collective voice and their power to negotiate for decent wages, healthcare plans, pensions and working conditions.

Just yesterday, the United States Supreme Court struck down a 40-year-old precedent allowing public-sector labor unions to fund worker advocacy through fair share fees. And the National Labor Relations Board recently changed its rules to allow employers to strip workers of the right to resolve their grievances in a court of law.

The federal government hasn’t raised the minimum wage nationwide since 2009, and Pennsylvania hasn’t raised its minimum wage in more than a decade. At $7.25 an hour, a full-time worker would make about $15,000 a year. That’s below the federal poverty level for a two-person household. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there isn’t a state in the country where a full-time, minimum-wage worker can afford to pay rent for a modest two-bedroom apartment.

Conversely, higher wages boost the economy and reduce employee turnover because workers are also consumers. So when they make more money, they tend to spend more and businesses benefit.

That’s why I introduced Senate Bill 1044 earlier this year, so that employers won’t have the option of paying workers less than a living wage. Today, Gov. Wolf’s executive order makes a bold statement that Pennsylvania cares about working families and recognizes the vital role that a vibrant middle class plays in a healthy and sustainable economy.

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If you would like more information about this topic, please contact William Kenny at 215-533-0440 or email at William.Kenny@pasenate.com.

Tartaglione Applauds Governor’s Executive Order Raising the Minimum Wage for State Employees, Contractors

Tartaglione’s Legislation Would Lift Tens of Thousands of Tip-Earners Out of Poverty-level Wages

Op-ed By Christine M. Tartaglione

In February, I introduced legislation in the Pennsylvania Senate to give the state’s low-wage earners a much needed and long overdue raise this year, next year and for years to come based on a consistent, predictable and sustainable schedule for both workers and employers.

Pennsylvania hasn’t raised its standard minimum wage ($7.25 an hour) since 2006 or its minimum wage for restaurant servers, bartenders and other tip-earners ($2.83), the so-called subminimum wage, in more than two decades. My Senate Bill 1044 and Sen. Art Haywood’s companion legislation, SB 1045, would lift hundreds of thousands of workers out of poverty-level wages, putting more spending power in the pockets of consumers while protecting business and employment across the Commonwealth.

On March 21, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com printed a guest commentary submitted by a Maine man who identifies himself as a $28 an hour waiter and founder of a new “employee advocacy” group that purports to protect tip-earners’ rights while fighting against “union-aligned interests that want to upend our industry.” The group recently branded itself Restaurant Workers of America, not to be confused with the Restaurant Workers Association, which supports the kind of measures that I and Sen. Haywood have proposed.

The author, Joshua Chaisson, and his organization – which has at least two restaurant proprietors on its six-person board – has fought to preserve the hourly wage discrepancies endured by most tip-earners, arguing that wage equality will actually cost tip-earners money. In his column, he attempted to discredit my legislation and a long-established workers’ advocacy non-profit, the Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC), using unsubstantiated personal anecdotes and his distorted application of selected facts.

But in his zeal to misrepresent verifiable data and legitimate academic research while repeatedly sourcing management-side blogs and anecdotal commentaries, the author ignored the elephant in the room: based on his own statements, he clearly is NOT a typical restaurant server and does not understand the professional and financial difficulties encountered by Pennsylvania’s 230,000 tip-earning hospitality industry workers.

While he says he makes $28 an hour, tip-earners nationally have a median wage including tips of about $10.22, according to a 2014 Economic Policy Institute study. Half of them earn less than $10.22. By comparison, hourly workers in general have a median wage of $16.48 nationally.

That means in one year, the median tipped worker makes just $21,257 – barely above the federal poverty level for a family of three – based on a 40-hour work week. Incidentally, all workers can thank labor unions for standardizing the 40-hour week almost 80 years ago.

The same EPI report, co-authored by a Ph.D. and labor economist from the University of California along with a Georgetown-educated public policy researcher, further provides stunning data about the working poor, including those in the hospitality industry, which accounts for about 577,000 Pennsylvania jobs (tipped and non-tipped employees).  Almost 13 percent of tipped workers live in poverty, nearly twice as many non-tipped workers (6.5 percent), while about 46 percent of tipped workers and their families rely on public benefits, compared to 35.5 percent for non-tipped workers. That means our wage structure for tipped workers places an unnecessary burden on all taxpayers.

Furthermore, according to 2017 U.S. Department of Labor data, 11.1 percent of people who work in the “food service and drinking places” sector of the hospitality industry make below the federal minimum wage, compared with just 0.6 percent for all other private-sector industries combined. Food service and drinking place workers comprise one-tenth of all private sector workers, but account for two-thirds of all workers who earn less than minimum wage.

So no, Mr. Chaisson, my legislation would NOT “actually lead to a pay cut” for restaurant servers. And no, it is not “rare” for tip-earners to come up short of prevailing minimum wage even with tips included, as he callously claimed. Likewise, tip-earners cannot rely solely on their employers to make up the difference in such instances, although business owners are legally required to do so.

Just last month, the New York Times reported that the U.S. Department of Labor found 84 percent of full-service restaurants it investigated between 2010 and 2012 had violated labor laws, including but not limited to tip violations.  And a 2012 study by the aforementioned Restaurant Opportunities Centers, along with the Philadelphia Restaurant Industry Coalition, found that 58 percent of workers surveyed around the city claimed they have experienced overtime wage violations, while 40 percent claimed they worked “off the clock” without getting paid. The survey also found that 10 percent said management took a share of their tips.

Another pillar of Mr. Chaisson’s argument is that businesses couldn’t bear the brunt of paying fair hourly wages, that they’d fail financially and close at the expense of countless lost jobs. Indeed, the “tip credit” law has allowed restauranteurs and bar owners to avoid paying prevailing hourly wages for years. In a set-up unique to the industry and to the United States, gratuities count as wages even when they never (or should never) pass through the pockets of the employer.

While it may be true that restaurants operate on razor-thin profit margins, generally three to five percent, it also may be true that about 60 percent of all restaurants fail within their first three years of existence. Both statistics appear in a restaurant management blog post that Mr. Chaisson cited in his column. Therefore, it should have come as no surprise that a bunch of allegedly popular restaurants closed their doors in New York State after the enactment of a statewide tipped-wage increase in 2016. It also should have come as no surprise if restauranteurs blamed the wage increase rather than their own business models.

Another one of Mr. Chaisson’s sources, an anti-Andrew Cuomo opinion piece in Forbes, acknowledges that even with those New York restaurant closures, employment in the state’s full-service restaurant industry STILL grew in 2016. It grew at a slower rate than previous years, but grew nonetheless.

Out on the West Coast, there’s additional research available involving the impact of minimum wage increases on California’s Bay Area. In his column, Mr. Chaisson relies upon another blog post from a conservative-leaning thinktank, the Washington Policy Center, to interpret the results of a 2017 Harvard Business School study.

Chaisson hangs his hat on a conclusion that higher minimum wages resulted in an increase in restaurant closures in the region. What he didn’t report in his own column was that the study looked at localized wage hikes, not those enacted on a statewide level – as would be the case with my legislation. The Harvard study only reinforces the need for minimum wage uniformity, not like we see in Pennsylvania where all six of our bordering states are among 29 across the nation with higher minimum wages than we have.

Another interesting conclusion emerged from the Harvard study, which was aptly titled “Survival of the Fittest”: minimum wage increases had negligible impact on highly regarded restaurants but had a much higher impact on those businesses rated poorly by their own customers. This again begs the question, are they really closing because of the minimum wage or are they failing to meet the demands of their own markets?

Ominously, Mr. Chaisson’s column issues a stern warning to Pennsylvania legislators to “take note of what happened in Maine” last year when, he says, thousands of restaurant servers pressured lawmakers to reverse a minimum wage increase for tip-earners after 55 percent of voters had endorsed the raise in a statewide referendum. In the Maine House, 110 members voted for the repeal while 37 voted against. While it may make for compelling news fodder that a relatively small portion of an 80,000-strong workforce could have such a decisive impact, the fact remains that Mainers support raising the minimum wage and so do I.

Senator Tartaglione Introduces Legislation to Raise Pennsylvania’s Minimum Wage

Senator Tartaglione Introduces Legislation to Raise Pennsylvania’s Minimum Wage

Lawmakers and workers’ advocates renewed the call for fair, family-sustaining wages

HARRISBURG, PA, February 5, 2018 – State Sen. Christine Tartaglione today announced recently introduced legislation that proposes to raise Pennsylvania’s long-stagnant minimum wage. Surrounded by colleagues in the General Assembly, other workers’ advocates and members of Raise the Wage PA, Tartaglione announced the details of Senate Bill 1044 that would impact millions of low-wage Pennsylvanians.

“For far too long, many Pennsylvanians have had to manage with far too little,” Senator Tartaglione said. “Regrettably, Pennsylvania hasn’t raised its minimum wage since 2006 and the federal government hasn’t raised the minimum wage since 2009. That is why we are here today, to advocate again for raising the minimum wage.”

 

Senator Tartaglione has been at the forefront of the minimum wage issue throughout her 24 years in the Senate. She negotiated Pennsylvania’s last minimum wage increase in 2006. But since then, Pennsylvania has fallen behind the times. All six of its neighbor states have minimum wages above the $7.25 federal level, as do 28 states across the country. But Pennsylvania does not.

Similarly, tipped workers in Pennsylvania have gone without a raise in the minimum wage since 1998. They are entitled to just $2.83 an hour under the law.

“Under the current minimum wage, a worker who logs 40 hours a week makes just about $15,000 a year,” Senator Tartaglione said. “That’s below the federal poverty level for a two-person household. And in Pennsylvania, it qualifies the worker to collect Food Stamps. And that is unacceptable.”

Tartaglione’s Senate bill is a companion bill to similar legislation introduced in the Pennsylvania House by Rep. Patty Kim. Under the bill, the minimum wage would rise to $12 an hour immediately ($9 for tipped workers), then increase incrementally to $15 in 2024 ($12 for tipped workers). After 2024, the minimum wage would increase automatically each year based on a cost-of-living adjustment.

The senator noted that the cost of living has risen dramatically since the last time Pennsylvania raised its minimum wage. The cost of a loaf of bread has risen from 97 cents to about $2.50. A gallon of milk has risen from about $3.25 to over $4. A dozen eggs have risen from about one dollar to $2.65.

“The minimum wage isn’t about giving a handout. It’s about giving a hand up,” Senator Tartaglione said.

Sen. Art Haywood, a co-sponsor of SB 1044, joined Senator Tartaglione at today’s news conference in the Capitol. Haywood is the primary sponsor of SB 1045, which would add onto Tartaglione’s legislation by gradually increasing the tipped minimum wage to match the non-tipped minimum wage over three years starting in 2025. Haywood’s bill, which was co-sponsored by Tartaglione, would also eliminate a provision in state law that prevents municipalities from raising their local minimum wages above the state minimum.

Senate Majority Leader Jay Costa, John Meyerson of Raise the Wage PA, The Rev. Sandra L. Strauss of the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, Mark Price of Keystone Research Center and John Traynor, owner of the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center, also joined Senator Tartaglione for today’s announcement.

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If you would like more information about this topic, please contact William Kenny at 215-533-0440 or email at William.Kenny@pasenate.com.

Job Training, Minimum Wage Boost, Education Key Parts of Budget Proposal, Tartaglione says

Harrisburg – February 7, 2017 – Senate Democratic Labor and Industry chair Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia) offered comments about the proposed $32.3 billion 2017-18 Fiscal Year budget that Gov. Tom Wolf unveiled today before a joint session of the General Assembly. 

The plan increases spending slightly over last year, but cuts $2 billion in costs. It would close the $3 billion budget deficit with efficiencies and government reform, but without new broad-based taxes. 

Tartaglione said she was particularly pleased with several aspects of the proposed budget including a new job training apprenticeship grant program; the call to increase the minimum wage to $12 per hour; and a renewed effort to close the so-called Delaware corporate tax loophole.  Each of these initiatives have been a focus for Tartaglione over a number of sessions. 

Tartaglione’s reaction to the spending plan follows:

“The governor has offered a responsible plan that not only deals with the looming budget deficit but makes key investments in job training, job creation, education and social service programs. The budget proposal includes a number of initiatives that I have been involved with including an expansion of apprenticeships to help create jobs, an increase the minimum wage and the closing of the Delaware Loophole.

“Lawmakers face a number of challenges to closing the budget deficit, but the governor has generated an alternative proposal that involves government reforms, efficiencies and structural changes.  We have to be very mindful that our state budget invests in programs and services that help working men and women, children, students, seniors and those in need.  

“This is a good starting point and one that can help jump-start dialogue leading to an on-time budget that meets the needs of Pennsylvania.”

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