The Situation in the House
The fight for a minimum wage of $7.15 continues. The latest word from Harrisburg is that there will be a vote in the House of Representatives the week of April 5th. Of course, we have been misled before, so no one is holding their breath. I will report here if the votes look likely and urge you to contact Republican members of the House to ask them to support an increase to $7.15 rather than the $6.25 most House Republicans support. The situation is different in the Senate where more drastic action may well be necessary.
Rally and Direct Action on Wednesday, April 26
Right now, there is no indication that Senate President Robert Jubelirer or Senate Majority Leader David Brightbill have any intention of allowing a vote on the Senator floor, where we are very confident that we have the votes to raise the minimum wage, perhaps to $7.15. So the Minimum Wage Coalition intends to hold another rally in Harrisburg on Wednesday, April 26. And, in addition to the rally, we are planning to engage in civil disobedience. I won’t reveal the details of our plan here. I do want to encourage anyone who might be willing to risk being arrested in support of an increase in the minimum wage to email me directly at MarcStier@stier.net for more information.
Inadequate Minimum Wage Proposals in the House
Right now the bill supported by most Republicans in the House would increase the minimum wage to $6.25 and exempt teenagers from the increase, leaving them stuck at the federal minimum wage of $5.15. Some Republicans, such as John Taylor, have suggested that they might vote to raise the minimum wage to 7.15 but only if a training wage is instituted. The training wage would be $5.15 for the first sixty days of work at a job.
Many teenagers are heads of households with children. And, many others teenagers, such as many of my students at Temple, are working their way through college (as I did thirty four years ago). So I don’t find the arguments for a sub-minimum wage for teenagers very plausible. Nor do I like the idea of a sixty day training wage, which is just long enough to insure that college students don’t make what they should during their summer vacation.