Good afternoon everyone,

It’s Tuesday, March 24, and welcome back to another edition of the Keystone Labor Report. 

Spring is in the air, and the Pennsylvania House is in session for the first time since Gov. Josh Shapiro delivered his budget address a little more than a month and a half ago. 

Democrats in the House are expected to pass another bill increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2029, and we will have more on that in Thursday’s Labor Report. 

This would be the third time Democrats have voted to raise the minimum wage since retaking the Pennsylvania House in 2022, but we have a better chance at seeing the Pittsburgh Pirates having a .500 or better season than Republicans in Pennsylvania Senate taking that up any time soon. 

Sorry, Pirates fans. 

(Sean Kitchen / The Keystone)

I have been living in Harrisburg for more than 11 years, and one of the issues that has made my blood boil during that time is how tens of thousands of retired teachers, support professionals, and public employees have gone close to 25 years without a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). 

When I interned with the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Facilities (APSCUF), which is the union representing college professors and coaches at Pennsylvania’s state-owned universities, I remember sitting in a meeting with APSCUF retirees and officials from former Gov. Tom Corbett’s office talking passionately about the lack of COLA increases for more than a decade at that time. 

Right now, there are over 60,000 retirees, most of whom are in their 80s and 90s, living off a pension of under $20,000, and they have not seen a COLA increase since the commonwealth passed Act 9 of 2001, which gave active educators, support professionals, and other public sector employees a 25% increase in their pension but those pension increases excluded those who retired prior to Act 9 becoming law. 

One retiree I talked to was Bob McVay, a former Franklin Area School District teacher and principal in Venango County for over 30 years, and he shared some thoughts about not receiving any COLA increases over the past 20 years. 

“ My dream was to be a teacher. I had much respect for the teachers that I had in my life, and I wanted that same thing for my livelihood.  My dream now, after all these years, has turned into a nightmare. It is no longer a positive dream. I’m so hurt. I’m so disgusted and fed up with the selfishness that I see [in the Pennsylvania capitol],” McVay said in an interview. 

Philadelphia labor leaders want Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) out of Philadelphia International Airport for creating unsafe working conditions. They are calling on Congress to fund the Transportation Security Administration amid the ongoing federal government shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security. 

“Union members at PHL serve food, push wheelchairs, repair machinery, check travelers in, clean, and manage security, and so much more. Without these workers, there is no PHL. The deployment of ICE to PHL puts all workers, regardless of race, ethnicity, or immigration status at risk,” Philadelphia AFL-CIO President Daniel Bauder said in a statement. 

(Sean Kitchen / The Keystone)

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that US Sen. John Fetterman has seen a historic nosedive in approval ratings among Democrats a little more than one year into President Donald Trump’s second term. 

According to CNN, Fetterman’s net approval among Pennsylvania Democrats has fallen by a jaw-dropping 108%. His approval rating from 68% to -40% among Democrats. 

Progressives are looking to primary Fetterman, and if one thing is on their side, it’s that no sitting senator has been able to fend off a primary challenge with approval numbers that bad.