City Council is calling on the state Legislature to increase Pennsylvania\u2019s minimum wage.<\/p>\n
Council recently unanimously adopted a resolution introduced by Councilman Jaime Baez Jr. urging the state Senate to approve House Bill 1150.<\/p>\n
The bill, proposed by state Rep. G. Roni Green, a Philadelphia Democrat, would raise the hourly minimum wage to $15 from $7.25, beginning Jan. 1.<\/p>\n
It would also require that any future minimum wage legislation include an annual cost of living adjustment and lift the current state restrictions that keep municipalities from setting their own minimum wage standards or other wage-related regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to thank Rep. Roni Green for presenting this, and I want to thank the House Representatives for continuing to pass not only one year but multiple years of minimum wage legislation,\u201d Baez said.<\/p>\n
Baez, who last year introduced a similar resolution also passed by council, said previous efforts to raise the minimum wage got stuck in the state Senate.<\/p>\n
Reading City Council calls for increase in Pennsylvania\u2019s minimum hourly wage<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSo I urge the public, those who are watching, those here present, including ourselves as councilors, and those present here in the audience, to reach out to your state senators to apply some pressure,\u201d Baez said. \u201cMake sure you\u2019re emailing, calling, letting them know that this is necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n Green in a February memo<\/a> to fellow House members said it is impossible to raise a family on Pennsylvania\u2019s current minimum wage.<\/p>\n \u201cEven households of one cannot feed themselves, pay rent and utilities, and save for their future on a $7.25 per hour wage,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania last raised its hourly minimum wage to $7.25 from $7.15 in 2009, when the federal minimum wage was increased to $7.25 from $6.55.<\/p>\n