Dear Representative,

With a change in the composition of the legislature, the General Assembly is better primed than ever to pass a minimum wage bill that can truly change the game for Pennsylvania workers.

The General Assembly should take immediate and corrective action on raising the wage. Equally as important, the General Assembly should ensure a permanent solution to make sure that workers don’t have to wait another 17 years for the legislature to take action.

That’s why we, the undersigned organizations, are urging that any minimum wage bill passed by the House this year lift the state’s preemption over minimum wage and empower local governments to set wages that make the most sense for their communities.

In 2006, when the General Assembly last took action to raise the minimum wage, the state preempted local governments from taking action to raise the wage on their own.

We often hear in the minimum wage debate that the right wage for Johnstown is not the right wage in Philadelphia, and vice versa.  What better way to navigate around that problem than to empower local elected leaders to set a minimum wage that makes the most sense for their communities.  The federal government does not preempt states from setting a minimum wage higher than the national minimum -- why should Pennsylvania preempt local governments from doing the same thing?

Together, our organizations represent hundreds of thousands of members in every corner of the commonwealth. Every day, we hear from our members and our communities who are struggling with the skyrocketing costs of housing, food, gas and utilities. We are hearing from people facing an end to pandemic SNAP benefits and rising poverty rates. We are facing a cost of living crisis -- and local elected leaders are stripped of the tools that they need to address it.

Preemption is often used as a tool for state governments to prevent big cities with majority Black and brown residents from governing as they see fit. This model should be rejected by Pennsylvania's General Assembly.

Governor Shapiro has called for the statewide minimum wage to increase to $15, and we applaud his commitment to this long past due goal for PA’s working families. The legislature should take up his call -- AND, to avoid another 17 years of waiting -- we urge you to lift preemption and allow local communities to best meet their needs.

In fact, we need the repeal of minimum wage preemption to be your highest priority. The Democratic caucus has consistently supported bills that have included lifting preemption previously. We now call on you to take leadership on pushing for the strongest minimum wage package we can win for workers this year.

Sincerely,

Action Together NEPA

African Communities Together

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance Philadelphia Chapter

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance Pittsburgh Chapter

Beaver County United

Berks Stands Up

Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh

Black Women’s Policy Center

CASA

Casa San Jose

Ceiba

Central PA United

Centre County Wage Justice Coalition

Coalition for Low Income Pennsylvanians

Community Legal Services, Philadelphia

Crawford County United

Erie County United

Family Friendly Pennsylvania

For our Future Action Fund

Grupo de Apoyo e Integración Hispanoamericano

Howard United Methodist Church

Immigrant Rights Action

Juntos

Just Harvest

Keystone Research Center

Lancaster Stands Up

Lehigh Valley Stands Up

Make the Road PA

Maternity Care Coalition

MomsRising

National Employment Law Project

NEPA Stands Up

New Pennsylvania Project

New Voices for Reproductive Justice

NextGen America

One Fair Wage

One Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition

Pennsylvania Joint Board of Workers United

Pennsylvania Policy Center

Pennsylvania Working Families Party

Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO

Pittsburgh Black Worker Center

Pittsburgh United

Pittsburghers for Public Transit

POWER Interfaith

Pride at Work Pennsylvania

Restaurant Opportunities Center Pennsylvania

Schuylkill Indivisible

SEAMAAC, Inc.

SEIU 32BJ

SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania

SEIU Local 668

SEIU Pennsylvania State Council

Sequal Consulting

Seven Mountains Central Labor Council

Southwest Pennsylvania Coalition of Labor Union Women

Sunrise Pennsylvania

The Welcoming Center

The Women and Girls Foundation

Thomas Merton Center

Unitarian Universalist Justice Pennsylvania

United Home Care Workers of Pennsylvania

United Students Against Sweatshops - Student Works at Penn State

Voice of Westmoreland

We the People Pennsylvania

Women’s Law Project