The secretary of Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry praises Sheetz for its decision to raise workers’ pay.
During the recent “Jobs that Pay” tour in Cambria County, Pa., Kathy Manderino, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry, focused her presentation on raising the minimum wage.
At the Greater Johnstown Career & Technical Center, secretary Manderino and several area business representatives and workforce development stakeholders participated in a business roundtable hosted by the Southern Alleghenies Workforce Development Board.
“The variety of workforce development professionals present at today’s roundtable was truly exceptional,” said secretary Manderino. “We discussed a wide-range of issues, with a particular emphasis on the importance of raising the minimum wage, regional talent pipeline needs and the benefits of hiring employees with disabilities. Today was a great step toward holistically looking at and addressing the commonwealth’s workforce development needs.”
Manderino followed the Johnstown, Pa. visit with a tour of a Sheetz convenience store and the Sheetz Distribution Center, bakery and test kitchen in Claysburg, Pa. There, secretary Manderino discussed Governor Tom Wolf’s plan to raise the Pennsylvania minimum wage to $10.15 an hour and praised Sheetz’s decision to raise its workers’ pay.
“I am here today to applaud Sheetz’s decision to raise its workers’ wages, and say that Governor Wolf and I encourage other employers to take similar steps to provide fair and livable wages,” Manderino said. “Raising the minimum wage is the single most-powerful poverty fighting tool we have.
“Moreover, empowering employees with better wages increases productivity and decreases turnover; and increasing purchasing power for low-wage workers means more customers for Pennsylvania businesses. It’s a win-win.”
In his 2016-17 budget, Governor Tom Wolf proposed raising the minimum wage to $10.15 an hour. The increase would benefit more than 1.2 million Pennsylvania workers, many of whom are adults with families.
