By Jaxon White
LNP/Lancaster Online, December 31, 2024
Three Democratic state lawmakers gathered in Lancaster on Tuesday to renew their call for a higher statewide minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 per hour since 2009. Lancaster state Rep. Izzy Smith-Wade-El, along with Sen.-elect Patty Kim, of Harrisburg, and Sen. Art Haywood, of Montgomery County, said at a press conference that they plan to introduce legislation to more than double the current rate to $15 an hour and include an annual cost-of-living adjustment tied to the rate of inflation.
“If you want the labor of a Pennsylvanian — and you should — their labor is worth at least $15 an hour,” Smith-Wade-El said outside Two Dudes Painting Co. on Poplar Street. ...
Two Dudes chief executive Peter Barber said it “just makes good business sense” to pay workers fairly and equitably. His company is chartered as a B Corporation, according to its website, meaning it voluntarily commits to providing fair wages and a variety of social and environmental practices.
“We've become an employer of choice within our industry because people know that we pay people well,” Barber said. “People know that they have benefits here.” ...
Calls for raising the minimum wage in Pennsylvania have been issued regularly by supporters for years. Two Dudes’ Lancaster location was also the site of a 2021 event where Kim, then-Gov. Tom Wolf and former Lancaster city state Rep. Mike Sturla called on lawmakers to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. ...