Krueger: Time for legislature to act on supporting workers

HARRISBURG, Oct. 22 – State Rep. Leanne Krueger delivered the following remarks during a news conference today with Gov. Tom Wolf and Department of Labor and Industry Secretary Jennifer Berrier regarding the governor’s plans for supporting workers:

“I want to thank Governor Wolf and Secretary Berrier for making the trip to Delaware County today.

As the Democratic secretary of the Pennsylvania House Labor and Industry Committee, I can tell you that my colleagues and I have been working hard to advance good bills to support working families. I am grateful for the Governor’s executive actions to support workers, but there is much left to be done. There are many actions that are outside of what the Governor has the power to do through executive orders. It is time for the legislature to take action too.

“So far this year, my colleagues have introduced 50 pro-worker bills that have been referred to the House Labor and Industry Committee. Fifty separate bills. We have introduced bills to fix the problems with the Unemployment Compensation system and to address worker misclassification, which impacts people working in the building trades. We have introduced bills to raise the minimum wage, multiples bills to address equal pay for women, and bills to support parental leave and paid family leave and paid sick leave. We have introduced bills to support teachers and nurses and farmworkers and low-wage workers and nursing mothers. Not one of these bills has been considered by the majority chairman.

“I, myself, introduced a bill, House Bill 348, that would protect healthcare workers on the front lines by addressing the workplace violence issues that have gotten even worse during the pandemic. My bill has been sitting in committee since February.

“Our nurses need us to act. Our neighbors need us to act. The time is now.”