Pennsylvania’s new push goals to offer frontline staff an hourly wage increase – CBS Pittsburgh

Harrisburg (KDKA) – There is a new impetus to raise the Pennsylvania minimum wage.

The focus is on frontline workers and getting them to boost their hourly wages. Some say they worked tirelessly during the pandemic and endangered their lives.

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At the event on Thursday, Labor Industry Secretary-General Jennifer Belier said raising the minimum wage would bring immediate benefits to working families and the rural economy.

Governor Tom Wolf is currently proposing to raise the minimum wage to $ 12 an hour and then to $ 15 an hour by 2027.

Some say they have a full-time job that earns $ 7.25 an hour and too many workers are unable to pay bills or support their families.

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A church minister in Center County says his church’s food bank supported a record number of families even before the pandemic.

Now he sees so many young families struggling to feed their children.

“My impression of all churches is that we are tired. We are intended to be Band-Aid, not to keep people. Raise the minimum wage. We need such structural changes, “said Rev. Craig Rose.

But who are these frontline workers exactly? They are restaurants, retailers, farmers and healthcare professionals.

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The secretary states that if the minimum wage reaches $ 15 per hour by 2027, the 29 provinces with the highest percentage of these workers will raise their salaries.