by Christin Brown | May 4, 2015 | News Releases
HARRISBURG, May 4, 2015 – Following a morning-long Senate committee hearing on her bill to increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10, state Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione, working men and women, and other supporters of a higher base wage will hold a press conference at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 5, in the East Wing Rotunda.
Despite successful countrywide efforts to increase the minimum wage and numerous legislative proposals to raise the commonwealth’s rate, Pennsylvania still requires employers to pay just $7.25 an hour.
Tartaglione’s Senate Bill 195 would increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $10.10 by January and would include an automatic cost-of-living adjustment. Another proposal in her five-bill package would increase the tipped minimum to 70 percent of the regular minimum.
The Senate Labor and Industry Committee will begin its hearing at 9 a.m., tomorrow, in the North Office Building hearing room. Its current agenda is here.
Media coverage of both events is encouraged.
WHAT: Sen. Christine Tartaglione, minimum wage earners and other supporters to hold a press conference urging lawmakers to approve minimum wage increase
WHEN: 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 5
WHERE: East Wing Rotunda, Capitol, Harrisburg
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by Christin Brown | April 22, 2015 | News Releases
HARRISBURG, April 22, 2015 – Because “a rising tide lifts all boats,” state Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione said today a new study shows that if Pennsylvania finally approves a minimum wage of $ 10.10 an hour, residents in each of the state’s 67 counties will benefit.
“History has proven, time and again, that minimum wage increases do not cause widespread pain, despite the claims of critics,” Sen. Tartaglione said this morning during a press conference with Raise The Wage PA.
“The new Keystone Research Center study is one more finger in the dyke of opposition. The KRC’s work clearly shows that a higher Pennsylvania minimum would help workers who have not received a pay raise since 2007.
“When prices for food, clothing and housing have dramatically increased, the earning power of $7.25 has dropped,” Tartaglione said. “Pennsylvania cannot afford to keep minimum wage workers impoverished. We need $10.10 approved now; tipped minimum wage earners need a raise, too.”
Pennsylvania’s tipped minimum wage is $2.83 an hour and has not increased since 1999.
Senate Bill 195 would increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $8.67 an hour by July 1 and $10.10 an hour by Jan. 1., while Senate Bill 196 would increase the tipped minimum to $3.95 an hour on July 1, and move it to 70 percent of the regular minimum at the start of 2016.
Los otros tres proyectos de ley del paquete de salario mínimo del senador Tartaglione incluyen:
- Senate Bill 197, which would provide annual cost-of-living increases for minimum wage earners based on the Consumer Price Index,
- El proyecto de ley 198 del Senado, que modernizaría la ley estatal de pago y cobro de salarios para aumentar los requisitos de mantenimiento de registros para los empresarios y las obligaciones de ejecución del Departamento de Trabajo e Industria del estado. También permitiría a los empleados recibir salarios atrasados y el doble de esos salarios en concepto de daños y perjuicios, y
- El proyecto de ley 199 del Senado, que prohibiría a los empresarios deducir comisiones o gastos bancarios de las propinas de los empleados cuando un cliente pague su cuenta con tarjeta de crédito.
Not only would a higher minimum wage help thousands of workers, Sen. Tartaglione said it would serve as an economic stimulus for many local Pa. economies.
While the KRC study says a $10.10 minimum wage would help 1.2 million Pennsylvania workers, it also says the raise would put nearly $2 billion into the state’s economy.
Nearly one-in-four workers in the state’s 48 rural counties and more than 700,000 workers, or 18 percent, in the state’s urban counties will benefit, Tartaglione said.
“More than 200,000 people in Philadelphia and Allegheny counties would also get a boost,” the senator said.
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by Christin Brown | March 10, 2015 | News Releases
PHILADELPHIA, March 10, 2015 – State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione will continue her push to increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage tomorrow when the House Democratic Policy Committee convenes a hearing at Temple University.
Tartaglione has proposed a package of legislation that would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 by Jan. 1 (Senate Bill 195), increase the tipped minimum wage to 70 percent of the regular minimum wage (SB 196), and add an annual cost-of-living increase (SB 197).
The committee is meeting at the request of Philadelphia Democratic Rep. Leslie Acosta.
Media coverage is invited.
WHAT: Sen. Tartaglione to participate in minimum wage public hearing
WHEN: 10 a.m., Wednesday, March 11
WHERE: Room 301-D, Morgan Hall, Temple University, 1601 N. Broad St., Philadelphia
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by Christin Brown | February 9, 2015 | News Releases
HARRISBURG, Feb. 9, 2015 – Republicans and Democrats, advocacy groups and minimum wage earners filled a church near the state Capitol this afternoon to organize for a new effort to finally increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $10.10.
“We need to help the ones who need help the most,” Sen. Tartaglione said during the kickoff to Raise the Wage PA’s minimum wage kickoff event. “Every other neighboring state believes that, and they have acted to increase their minimum wage rates to much healthier levels.
“Not only would my proposal to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 by Jan. 1 help those who need it most, it would help thousands more Pennsylvanians than any other proposal promising a token increase,” she said.
Tartaglione unveiled a five-bill proposal last month that would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2016 and make the state’s tipped minimum equal 70 percent of the regular base hourly rate. After the increase to $10.10, her proposal would tie future increases to the rate of inflation.
Today’s three-hour event, organized by Raise the Wage PA, included Republican and Democratic state lawmakers, AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale, CEOs, the NAACP, PA Council of Churches, workers, officials from the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, the United Food and Commercial Workers, and others.
The group walked en masse from Grace United Methodist Church to the Capitol later in the afternoon.
“We are doing this as a group because we believe that a rising tide lifts all boats,” Tartaglione said. “We know there will soon be proposals to nominally increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage by 50 cents an hour, but we can – and should – do better than that.
“We must do what’s right for our frontline workers just our neighboring states have done what’s right for their workers.
“Study after study shows that there is more benefit than detriment following an increase in the minimum wage. Once we finally approve a $10.10 an hour minimum wage, history as a guide will prove to be right, and our workers and economies will all get a positive bounce from the fairer minimum,” the senator said.
Tartaglione’s Senate Bill 195 would increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $8.67 an hour by July 1 and $10.10 an hour by Jan. 1, 2016.
The tipped minimum wage, covered by Senate Bill 196, would increase from $2.83 an hour to $3.95 an hour on July 1, and would equal 70 percent of the regular minimum at the start of 2016.
Los otros tres proyectos de ley del paquete de salario mínimo del senador Tartaglione incluyen:
- Senate Bill 197, which would provide annual cost-of-living increases to the minimum wage based on the Consumer Price Index,
- Senate Bill 198, which would modernize the state wage payment and collection law to increase recordkeeping requirements for employers and enforcement duties of the state Department of Labor & Industry. It would also allow employees to receive back wages and two times those wages in damages, and
- Senate Bill 199, which would prohibit employers from deducting bank fees or charges from employee tips when a customer pays their bill with a credit card.
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by Christin Brown | January 27, 2015 | News Releases
HARRISBURG, 27 de enero de 2015 - Los trabajadores de primera línea de Pennsylvania que languidecen con salarios de nivel de pobreza finalmente recibirían un pago mayor bajo la nueva legislación de salario mínimo que la senadora estatal Christine M. Tartaglione anunció hoy.
La propuesta de cinco proyectos de ley aumentaría el salario mínimo a $ 10.10 por hora en 2016 y hacer el mínimo del estado propina 70 por ciento de la tarifa por hora base regular. Tras el aumento a 10,10 dólares, la propuesta del senador Tartaglione vincularía los futuros aumentos a la tasa de inflación.
"Pensilvania es el único estado del noreste que no ha escuchado los gritos de decenas de miles de residentes trabajadores que están sufriendo porque los precios han aumentado pero sus cheques de pago no lo han hecho durante seis largos años", dijo Tartaglione. "Debemos aceptar exigir a las empresas que paguen a los trabajadores salarios más altos no porque otros estados lo hayan hecho; debemos aceptar más porque es lo correcto para ellos, para los contribuyentes y para la economía."
El proyecto de ley 195 del Senado, presentado por Tartaglione, aumentaría el salario mínimo de Pensilvania a 8,67 dólares la hora el 1 de julio y a 10,10 dólares la hora el 1 de enero de 2016.
El salario mínimo por propina, contemplado en el proyecto de ley 196 del Senado, pasaría de 2,83 a 3,95 dólares la hora el 1 de julio, y equivaldría al 70% del mínimo regular a principios de 2016.
"Más de 87.000 ciudadanos de Pensilvania reciben sólo 7,25 dólares por cada 60 minutos que trabajan", dijo Tartaglione. "Para muchos trabajadores con salario mínimo es difícil comprar las cosas que venden sus empleadores porque no tienen dinero para pagar otras cosas importantes, como la electricidad".
Casi el doble de trabajadores (157.000), según el senador, perciben el salario mínimo por propina.
Los otros tres proyectos de ley del paquete de salario mínimo del senador Tartaglione incluyen:
- El proyecto de ley 197 del Senado, que prevé aumentos anuales del salario mínimo en función del índice de precios al consumo,
- El proyecto de ley 198 del Senado, que modernizaría la ley estatal de pago y cobro de salarios para aumentar los requisitos de mantenimiento de registros para los empresarios y las obligaciones de ejecución del Departamento de Trabajo e Industria del estado. También permitiría a los empleados recibir salarios atrasados y el doble de esos salarios en concepto de daños y perjuicios, y
- El proyecto de ley 199 del Senado, que prohibiría a los empresarios deducir comisiones o gastos bancarios de las propinas de los empleados cuando un cliente pague su cuenta con tarjeta de crédito.
Según un análisis del Wall Street Journal del pasado diciembre sobre las estadísticas federales de gasto de los consumidores entre 2007 y 2013, los estadounidenses de clase media tuvieron que ajustarse a un aumento del 24% en los costes sanitarios, un 26% más en las facturas de alquiler y un 12,5% más en alimentos.
"Por desgracia, un asalariado con salario mínimo no necesita un estudio para confirmar que casi todo para ellos cuesta demasiado dinero", dijo Tartaglione. "Necesitamos un salario mínimo más alto ahora porque el coste de no convertirlo en un requisito causará más daño".
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