Protecting Workers & Raising the Minimum Wage

Joe comes from a union family — his mother was a member of AFSCME local 1739, and his father was a member of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Joe has seen what it means to have to fight for the right to fair pay. Joe’s legislative priorities for labor include:

Raising the minimum wage to at least $15 and then indexing it to inflation
Protecting unions from right to work legislation and paycheck protection legislation
Pay equity, to close the gender gap in which women earn significantly less than men
Preventing the privatization of the Liquor Control Board and keeping it a public trust
Protecting the earned pensions of state and municipal employees

Labor

The political efforts of the organized labor movement have been paramount to establishing many of the rights that workers in America are now guaranteed. The minimum wage, worker’s compensation, and the forty-hour work week are all the result of decades of hard-fought battles. Joe believes that unions are key to setting quality standards for workers, and that elected officials need to stand with organized labor and the workers they represent against radical anti-labor attacks.

Minimum Wage

Joe supports the Fight for $15, the movement of labor organizations to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. He also believes that the minimum wage should then be indexed to inflation so that stagnant wages won’t recur and line workers across the state never find themselves as far behind as they are now.

Pennsylvania’s current $7.25 minimum wage is ridiculously low, and less than the minimum wages of every state that borders Pennsylvania. Too many Pennsylvanians work full-time jobs and still can’t afford the basics for their families. Further, study after study has shown that a minimum wage increase would not damage the economy, and will more likely provide a stimulative benefit. It’s past time the Pennsylvania Legislature got in line with literally every state bordering it and raise the minimum wage for its constituents.

Right to Work and Paycheck Protection Legislation

Joe stands opposed to right to work legislation. Right to Work legislation is effectively a Trojan horse that actually drives down wages and damages a state’s tax base. Too much damage has already been done to unions across the country, and Joe will continue to oppose this legislation when reelected.

Joe also opposes paycheck protection legislation. In an era fraught with unprecedented attacks on organized labor by right-wing corporate donors, unions require the ability to generate funds in order to remain politically active. All members of a bargaining unit benefit from union advocacy, whether or not they willingly support a union. It is therefore only fair that they participate in the payment for these ancillary benefits. Paycheck protection legislation undermines a union's ability to advocate for all of its members and all of the members of a bargaining unit.

Pay Equity - Closing the Gender Gap

Joe supports the simple concept that all people who perform the same work should be paid on the same levels. Women in the U.S. do not receive equal pay for equal work and that needs to change. One way to do this is to support organizing efforts by unions in trades and industries that include female-dominated professions. Increasing union membership in jobs serving women and communities of color has been shown to increase wages and real income. The benefits also extend beyond wages. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, approximately three in four unionized women (74.1 percent) have a pension plan, compared with only slightly more than four in ten (42.3 percent) of nonunion women. As of 2013, more than three in four unionized women (76.6 percent) had employer- or union-provided health insurance coverage, compared with only half (51.4 percent) of nonunion women.

Joe will support direct legislation that extends pay equity to the entire workforce like those embodied by proposals like Pennsylvania HB 830 and HB 931. These bills will enforce current pay equity laws and create more transparency so that pay inequity cannot be hidden in concepts like seniority and raises based on starting salaries.

Against Privatization of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board

Joe opposes privatization because the math behind it simply does not add up. The LCB generates over half a billion dollars to taxpayers in taxes and profits, and its sales have been growing. The loss of state income from controlled liquor sales would be difficult, if not impossible to replace. Republican claims that privatization would be a boon for the state lack any meaningful foundation, and discount the serious fiscal threat that privatization poses. According to analysis by Public Financial Management (commissioned by Republican former Governor Tom Corbett), it’s estimated that the state would have to come up with $408 million in new revenue each year to make privatization fiscally neutral.

Additionally, privatization will likely not create a significant number of jobs, while the LCB currently provides 3,500 union jobs and 5,000 jobs overall. Privatizing the LCB would result in 2,000 full-time employees losing their jobs, while the jobs that would be created could be part-time or lacking the benefits currently guaranteed to employees.

Privatization and the creation of for-profit wine and spirit stores also increases public health risks, including the serving of minors or those who should not be served alcohol. The benefits of a trained, full-time, and invested union workforce to control the sales of alcohol are being taken for granted, and will only be missed once replaced with less professional operations opening in our neighborhoods.

Joe is open to reforms and modernizing the system so that consumers have the best possible options. It is notable that after Washington state privatized its liquor stores four years ago, consumers saw prices rise 10-30%. Also, with the legalization of marijuana under consideration, the current system for liquor stores provides a strong infrastructure for that to occur in a way that maximizes revenues for the Commonwealth and protects public safety.

Preserving Pensions

Joe supports the rights of public employees to the pensions they have earned in government service. Pennsylvania’s state and municipal workforces are stronger because good, reliable pensions attract the best and the brightest by providing incentive to accept lower salaries than they would receive in private industry. We cannot jeopardize the quality of our government services in an attempt to save money on the backs of public employees who were promised security in exchange for their years of good service.