Christine Tartaglione's Labor Report

Senator Tartaglione joined Gov. Tom Wolf, state Rep. Patty Kim, many of their legislative colleagues, and many worker advocates on Jan. 30 to announce their plan to raise Pennsylvania’s outdated minimum wage, which has stagnated at just over $7 per hour for the last 12 years.

Under the new proposal, Pennsylvania’s minimum wage would rise from the federal minimum of $7.25 to $12 on July 1, 2019. It would then increase an additional 50 cents per year until reaching $15 in 2025, after which it would be receive annual cost of living adjustments. Tartaglione will soon introduce this plan as legislation in the Senate, while Kim will introduce it in the House.

Inflation has grown by more than 20 percent nationwide in the last dozen years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and 29 states, along with the District of Columbia, have raised their minimum wages above the federal minimum – including all states surrounding Pennsylvania.

New minimum wage raises took effect in 21 states this month, and New Jersey lawmakers are planning to vote tomorrow on a plan to raise that state’s minimum wage to $15 over the next five years. All six of Pennsylvania’s neighboring states have higher minimum wages than the $7.25 in effect throughout the Commonwealth.

Wolf stated that raising the minimum wage would reduce demand for public assistance and save taxpayers a combined $155 million over the next two years. Nearly 17,000 people would leave the state-funded Medicaid program next year, and another 51,000 would leave the following year. A portion of that savings will be reinvested to raise wages for workers who provide Department of Human Services-supported childcare and home care for seniors and people with disabilities.

Visit the senator’s website for more details on the plan and to watch video of her comments during a Capitol news conference.

W-B Nurses Avert Strike, Ratify Contract with Provisions for Safe Staffing

Registered nurses from Wilkes-Barre General Hospital averted a planned Feb. 13 strike by ratifying a new collective bargaining agreement earlier this week.

Members of the Wyoming Valley Nurses Association, an affiliate of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, voted on Jan. 30 to accept a new deal that addresses the priority issue of nurse staffing levels at the hospital, and that provides for wage increases.

The new contract creates a Patient Care Council that will meet regularly with a federal mediator present if necessary to address staffing and other patient rights issues.

WVNA Treasurer Lori Schmidt said in a union statement, “We are proud of this agreement and that a strike has been averted. We have a process to address our patient care concerns, which we hope that the hospital has entered into in good faith. We will keep the community updated and fully intend to hold (hospital management) accountable.”

The same statement noted that a November PA Department of Health inspection report cited the hospital for 19 violations of state and federal health codes related to patient rights, staffing, and emergency services. In December, the union nurses released their own report on conditions within the hospital in December.

The nation’s largest for-profit hospital company, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, owns Wilkes-Barre General. The nurses there worked almost a year without a contract. WVNA conducted a one-day strike of the hospital on May 31, prompting management to hire temporary replacements on five-day contracts and lock out the permanent staff nurses for the four additional days.

Federal Labor Unions Pursue Damages for Costly 35-Day Shutdown

The longest federal government shutdown in history is over, and hundreds of thousands of employees and contractors are collecting paychecks again. But the legal ramifications of the 35-day impasse between the White House and Congress are still pending in federal court.

Some of the nation’s largest federal employee unions – including the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union, and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association – continue to pursue lawsuits seeking damages from the government for the financial harm suffered by “essential” employees.

“The (AFGE) lawsuit alleges that the federal government violated the law by requiring some federal employees to work without pay during the shutdown,” the AFGE stated in a Jan. 25 news release. “These employees and other employees who are deemed “excepted,” perform a variety of critical, and often dangerous roles, including correctional officers, TSA security officers, FEMA employees, border and immigration agents, and many more.”

AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. said, “While the agreement reached by the White House and Congress will put employees back to work temporarily and allow them to start getting paid, we will not stop fighting until we have full-year funding approved for all our agencies and until all employees are made whole for the income they have lost.”

AFGE urged eligible employees to visit www.2018governmentshutdown.com to join its lawsuit. All federal employees who are classified as non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, have been deemed “excepted” by their agency, and worked for any amount of time on or after Dec. 22, 2018, without being paid may be eligible.

The temporary three-week funding plan passed by Congress and signed by the president on Jan. 25 is set to expire on Feb. 15.

There is legal precedent for the union’s claims. In 2017, a federal judge found the government in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and awarded partial back pay to about 25,000 federal employees who worked without pay during the 2013 government shutdown, even though the government had already reimbursed those workers fully for their unpaid time on the job.

For a detailed legal explanation, read this article from the Washington Post.

Monthly Jobs Report Doesn’t Count Furloughed Federal Workers

Although about 350,000 federal employees spent the first 25 days of January out of work due to the government shutdown, and another 450,000 “essential” employees were forced to work without pay, monthly employment statistics published by the federal government on Feb. 1 counted those workers as fully employed.

Many of the furloughed workers were approved for unemployment compensation. Unpaid essential employees were generally ineligible for unemployment compensation because they were instructed to report to work.

In a Jan. 24 news release, the Bureau of Labor Statistics stated: “On Wednesday January 16, 2019, the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 was signed into law. The law requires employees of the federal government who are furloughed or required to work during the lapse in appropriations beginning on December 22, 2018, to be compensated for the period of the lapse. Because these employees will receive pay for the reference period, they will be counted as employed.”

The shutdown lasted 35 days and was the longest in U.S. history. The president and Congress agreed on a three-week spending bill on Jan. 25, but another shutdown could begin on Feb. 15 if they can’t agree on a permanent spending plan. The temporary agreement provided government employees with back pay. But Republican lawmakers continue to block separate legislation that would provide more than a million government contract workers with back pay.

January 2019 National Jobs Update

The seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate rose to 4.0% in January 2019, up 0.1% from the prior month, marking a second consecutive monthly increase. Over the month, unemployment rolls increased by 241,000 individuals, raising total unemployment to over 6.5 million. Unemployment statistics for the month are as follows:

As indicated above, total unemployment’s rounded percentage of the labor force, or unemployment rate, increased over the month (rate = unemployment / labor force). The labor force is the total number of employed individuals combined with the total number of unemployed individuals actively searching for work. Growth in the labor force can be a sign of a strengthening economy from more people working and/or more individuals searching for jobs. In January 2019, the national labor force fell slightly by 11,000 individuals, a combination of total employment* down by 251,000 individuals and total unemployment up by 241,000 individuals as noted above.
Since President Trump took office, the national labor force has grown by 3.536 million individuals (unemployment -1.030 million & employment +4.566 million). While this growth is encouraging, continued progress will be needed to match labor force growth seen over President Obama’s second term (3.930 million: unemployment -4.906 million & employment +8.836 million). National labor force statistics for the month are as follows:

Non-farm* jobs grew by 304,000 over the month in January 2019, well above economist’s projections and the second largest monthly gain over President Trump’s term so far. Despite this growth, average monthly non-farm job gains under President Trump of 203,000 remain below average monthly growth of 217,000 seen over President Obama’s second term. National non-farm employment statistics for the month are as follows:

*Total employment for labor force provided by U.S. Census Household survey. The separate BLS Establishment survey measures non-farm jobs only.

PA County-by-County Unemployment
Rankings For December 2018

(Seasonally adjusted; Source: PA Department of Labor and Industry; State Rate: 4.2 percent.)

Tartaglione, Wolf Introduce New Plan to Raise PA’s Outdated Minimum Wage

W-B Nurses Avert Strike, Ratify Contract with Provisions for Safe Staffing

Federal Labor Unions Pursue Damages for Costly 35-Day Shutdown

Monthly Jobs Report Doesn’t Count Furloughed Federal Workers

January 2019 National Jobs Update

PA County-by-County Unemployment Rankings For December 2018

PA County-by-County Unemployment
Rankings For December 2018