WILKES-BARRE — State Rep. Jim Haddock on Tuesday voted for legislation that would increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $15 per hour in 2026.
Haddock was joined by fellow Luzerne County Democrat Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, who noted that it’s been 16 years since the last minimum wage increase in Pennsylvania.
“It is past time for Pennsylvania’s lowest-earning workers to receive at least the same wages as their counterparts in surrounding states, all of which have higher minimum wages than we do,” said Haddock, D-Pittston Township. “The stepped increase in this bill would give the economy time to adjust as workers earn more. It’s also a good compromise if we have any hope of passing it through the Republican-controlled state Senate.”
The Pennsylvania’s Democratic-controlled House of Representatives approved raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2026.
The bill passed 103-100 with all but one Democrat voting for it and two Republicans joining them.
Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is set at the federal minimum of $7.25, and was last increased in 2009.
The legislation would increase the minimum wage in Pennsylvania to:
• $11 per hour effective Jan. 1, 2024.
• $13 per hour effective Jan. 1, 2025.
• $15 per hour effective Jan. 1, 2026.
“We even had bipartisan support on this bill,” said Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre. “Our workers have called on us as lawmakers time and time again to provide them a livable wage and I was proud to vote in alignment with that.”
Pashinski said there would be...
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