Op-Ed By Wendell Young IV and Sen. Christine “Tina” Tartaglione
Penn Live/ Patriot News, Feb 5, 2021
It is rare that you will find the president of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce, union leaders, advocates, and members of the General Assembly all on the same page. But after a three-hour long hearing hosted by chair of the Democratic Policy Committee Senator Katie Muth at the request of Senators Tartaglione, Haywood and Kane, it seems there might be one issue we could all agree upon: eliminating local government pre-emption for minimum wage laws. ...
Pennsylvania’s minimum wage has not been raised since 2009 when the federal government increased the wage to $7.25. As Alissa Barron-Menza, Vice President of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage stated during this hearing, research shows that raising the minimum wage does the exact opposite of Mr. Barr’s [Gene Barr, President of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce] claims. In fact, raising the minimum wage actually leads to additional economic growth by putting spending power back into the hands of the workers and building a shared economic recovery. ...
Wendell Young IV is president of UFCW Local 1776. Sen. Christine “Tina” Tartaglione (D) represents Pennsylvania’s Second Senatorial District.