Paid parental leave is now law in Allegheny County

October 29, 2026

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Good afternoon everyone,

It’s Thursday, Oct. 29, welcome back to another edition of the Keystone Labor Report. You can find last week’s version here.

This is also our final newsletter before the midterm elections, and I’m sure we will be dissecting the results of next week’s election in the days and weeks to come, but I want to thank everyone for following us during our midterm coverage.

Just a quick reminder for everyone that the polls open at 7 a.m. on Election Day and close at 8 p.m. All mail-in ballots must be returned to a county election office or drop box by 8 p.m. or your ballot will not be counted.

Sean Kitchen

Political Correspondent, The Keystone

(Sean Kitchen / The Keystone)

Paid parental leave became law of the land in Allegheny County last week after Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato signed the Allegheny County Paid Parental Leave bill into law last Friday.

Allegheny County Council passed the legislation by an 11-4 vote, and it requires private sector companies with 15 or more employees to provide paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child.

“By passing the first county-level paid parental leave policy in the country, we are showing that we take seriously the work of protecting workers and their families at one of the most economically and medically vulnerable times in their lives,” Innamorato, a Democrat, said in a statement.

She added, “paid leave is not a luxury. Paid leave is NOT radical. It should be a floor. It’s how we make sure a healthy start for a child doesn’t depend on a parent’s tax bracket or an employer’s generosity.”

Over 1,500 nurses at Allegheny General Hospital ratified a new three-year contract that includes a 16% raise over the life of the agreement and more, per WESA
Pennsylvania’s richest billionaire is pouring millions into State Sen. Frank Farry’s (R-Bucks) reelection campaign, per the Bucks County Beacon
TV stations in the Harrisburg area are refusing to air unsubstantiated ads attacking Democrat Janelle Stelson , who is running against US Rep. Scott Perry (R-York) in Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District), per Politico

(Sean Kitchen / The Keystone)

Union leader or union buster?

That’s the choice Lehigh Valley voters will have to make on Tuesday with Democrat Bob Brooks , a retired firefighter and union leader, running against Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Lehigh), who backed right-to-work legislation more than a dozen times while serving in the state legislature.

Union solidarity was on full display this past weekend in the Lehigh Valley with hundreds of union members from across the state gathered at the United Auto Workers Local 677 union hall in Allentown to volunteer for Brooks’ campaign in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District .

“We’re going to win this big, and we’re going to send a message that we’re tired of being screwed with. We are done with the nonsense, we are done with the corruption, and we are done with the lies, done with the cruelty,” Brooks told the union members.