Minimum Wage Bill to Get Senate Vote
Finally. The Senate Labor and Industry Committee has released the minimum wage bill for a full vote. Pennsylvania's working poor haven't had a raise in 9 years and are dependent on state programs simply to survive. This taxpayer subsidy of private business sorely needs revision and this is a beginning.
The votes are there to pass this bill easily but I won't rest easy until it's passed and on the Governor's desk. The Governor will sign the bill. Increasing the minimum wage under this bill really only makes up for the lack of action for the past nine years and catches workers up for the damage inflation has wrought on their purchasing power since the last raise in 1997.
What we really need is a living wage with an automatic cost of living adjustment built in. If cola's are good enough for state legislators they're good enough for Pennsylvania's workers. It's immoral that Americans who work full time jobs live in poverty. It isn't fair for taxpayers to fund their food stamps, heating and housing assistance and other entitlement programs because businesses refuse to pay them enough to live on. I wonder how angry the Chamber of Commerce would be if the state legislature and Congress froze their earnings for nine years. I guarantee you there'd be hell to pay.
There is absolutely no factual evidence that higher pay results in job losses. In fact the opposite is true. Because these workers are at the bottom level of our economy they spend every additional dollar they receive in wages. The economic boost which results adds jobs. Henry Ford proved this when he initiate dhis famous $5/day wage. Elevating his workers to middle class income status meant they could purchase the cars they built. This is proven economic fact. Higher wages created our middle class and the suppression of those wages in recent years has shrunk that segment. It's time to reverse the process and provide working Americans with fair wages for fair work and restore some dignity to their lives.
I urge the Senate to pass this bill today.
The votes are there to pass this bill easily but I won't rest easy until it's passed and on the Governor's desk. The Governor will sign the bill. Increasing the minimum wage under this bill really only makes up for the lack of action for the past nine years and catches workers up for the damage inflation has wrought on their purchasing power since the last raise in 1997.
What we really need is a living wage with an automatic cost of living adjustment built in. If cola's are good enough for state legislators they're good enough for Pennsylvania's workers. It's immoral that Americans who work full time jobs live in poverty. It isn't fair for taxpayers to fund their food stamps, heating and housing assistance and other entitlement programs because businesses refuse to pay them enough to live on. I wonder how angry the Chamber of Commerce would be if the state legislature and Congress froze their earnings for nine years. I guarantee you there'd be hell to pay.
There is absolutely no factual evidence that higher pay results in job losses. In fact the opposite is true. Because these workers are at the bottom level of our economy they spend every additional dollar they receive in wages. The economic boost which results adds jobs. Henry Ford proved this when he initiate dhis famous $5/day wage. Elevating his workers to middle class income status meant they could purchase the cars they built. This is proven economic fact. Higher wages created our middle class and the suppression of those wages in recent years has shrunk that segment. It's time to reverse the process and provide working Americans with fair wages for fair work and restore some dignity to their lives.
I urge the Senate to pass this bill today.
posted by PA progressive @ Tuesday, June 20, 2006
<< Home