Minimum Wage To Be Increased to $7.15 in Pennsylvania (Gov. Rendell Signs)

[rabid_nerd]

http://www.state.pa.us/papower/cwp/view.asp?A=11&Q=454597

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 12, 2006

MINIMUM WAGE INCREASED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NINE
YEARS AS GOVERNOR RENDELL CEREMONIOUSLY SIGNS
SENATE BILL 1090

PITTSBURGH — Some 420,000 hard-working Pennsylvanians will have a chance to make a better life for themselves and their families with Governor Edward G. Rendell’s signing of Senate Bill 1090, legislation to increase the state’s minimum wage for the first time in nine years.

“Raising the minimum wage was, absolutely, the right thing to do,” Governor Rendell said during a ceremonial signing at the Steel Workers’ Union in Pittsburgh. “People should never have had to decide between paying the light bill and putting food on the table. Senate Bill 1090 is a win for our hard-working families and our communities.”

The Governor officially signed the legislation into law on July 9 during a visit to Sharon Baptist Church in Philadelphia.

SB 1090, which was sponsored by Sen. Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia), increases the state’s minimum wage in two steps: to $6.25 an hour on Jan. 1, 2007; and to $7.15 an hour on July 1, 2007.

A delayed implementation schedule will be followed for employers with 10 or fewer full-time employees. These employers will increase the minimum wage to $5.65 on Jan. 1, 2007; $6.65 on July 1, 2007 and $7.15 on July 1, 2008.

Under the new law, a 60-day training wage, based on the federal $5.15-per-hour training wage, for employees under 20 years of age will be provided. Upon hiring, employers must notify workers of both the training wage and the workers’ right to receive the Pennsylvania minimum wage after 60 calendar days of employment. The law also makes it clear that other workers may not be displaced to allow hiring of training-wage workers.

The minimum wage was federally mandated in 1997 at $5.15 an hour. Pennsylvania joins 19 other states – Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, plus the District of Columbia – which has set minimum wages above $5.15 an hour.

Pennsylvania’s General Assembly had not increased the minimum wage since 1988.

Copyright © 2006 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. All Rights Reserved.

[napi21]

1. Well, GOOD for Pa! Casey can use that in his campaign against Santorum.

"See the Pubs in Wash. won't help you, but the Dems in Pa are trying to!"

[rep the dems]

2. I live in PA, and I make 8.50 an hour now

but it's good to see this happen. I look forward to having Ed Rendell as my governor for the next 4 years.

[napi21]

3. I don't know if they still do it, but when I lived and worked in Pa.

when the min wage went up, even if you were making more that that, the Co. I worked for raised my rate too. Good luck to you. I hope all businesses still do that!

[Monk06]

4. BC minimum wage is $CDN 8.00 thats approx $7.00 US eight years..

ago it was $CDN 5.29. I applied for a job as
a decorator and asked what the company was
willing to pay.

The owner of the business told me that
he didn't pay less than $CDN 10.00 per hour
because if he did his tools would start disappearing.

The lesson is: pay a living wage because it's in
the company's best interest. Fair wages are the
best motivator.

That's why in the middle of the depression Ford Motors
paid the highest wages in the US auto industry even though
no regulations required that Henry do so.

Henry Ford new which side his bread was buttered on; a
happy and motivated workforce who would express their
thanks by spending their wages buying Ford cars.

[napi21]

5. I've heard similar comments from the Prez of Costco.

Unfortunately, there are FEW companies left where GREED doesn't rule!

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. That DLCer Rendell never quits, does he?

;)

[rabid_nerd]

7. Hissss....

I know and You know Rendell's a DLCer, but I spit on any thought of Al From.

Take Al From away from the DLC (and the PNAC member - Will Marshall*) and something might... MIGHT.. be salvageable of the organization.

Otherwise, the DLC is dead (as a reputable org). They may have people in power now, but they are an endangered species.

* http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=110&topic_id=80&mesg_id=3146