Campaigns to raise the minimum wage sweep the country

On June 5 several busloads of low-wage and unemployed workers organized by the Philadelphia Unemployment Project joined hundreds of other Pennsylvanians at the State Capitol in Harrisburg to demand an increase in the state minimum from $5.15 to $7.15 an hour. Organizers say raising the minimum to $7.15 would increase the income of some 427,000 Pennsylvanians by $4,000 a year.

Although on April 5 the state House of Representatives passed an increase to $6.15 in July 2006 and $7.15 in July 2007, Senate Majority Leader David J. “Chip” Brightbill (R-Lebanon) has prevented a similar bill from coming to the Senate floor.

Brandy Russell, an organizer for the Raise the Minimum Wage Coalition, said the bill would likely pass the Senate if it were put to a vote. “I’ve been counting heads and we have a substantial majority of the Senate supporting the $7.15 an hour minimum wage,” he said.

At the June 5 rally, chants included “$7.15 and nothing in between” and “Raise the minimum wage now!”

State Senators Stewart Greenleaf (R-Willow Grove), Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia) and Tina Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia) promised to do everything in their power to press the Republican leadership to let the Senate vote.

Linda Williams, a low-wage supermarket worker from Allegheny County, emphasized that even $7.15 an hour is not a living wage and told how working families are suffering.

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