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WILKES-BARRE — Dwayne Heisler said the message he and a group of volunteers was trying to make outside U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey’s Wilkes-Barre office on Thursday was pretty simple.

“If you work for a living, you should earn a living,” Heisler said.

The group, led by Miranda Chemchick of the Pennsylvania Joint Board of Workers United, stood along Wilkes-Barre Boulevard, waving signs that inspired passing cars to honk their horns in support.

“Raise the minimum wage — it’s the right thing to do,” one sign read. Another said: “Put some respect in our check.” Another read: “$15 now! ’Cuz I can’t buy groceries with just my looks.” And then this: “Money can’t buy happiness, but it’s hard to be happy when you’re poor.”

Joining Heisler and Chemchick were Tanita Williams, Bhovider Bahl, John Thomas, Christian Pehanich and Cindy Crowner.

Members of the PA Joint Board of Workers United, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and union and community allies hosted the day of action, rallying outside Toomey’s offices in Wilkes-Barre, Allentown and Philadelphia before delivering signed petitions at each location. Pennsylvania Joint Board (PAJB) members intended to make hundreds of phone calls to Toomey’s offices, demanding that Toomey and Congress act to raise the federal minimum wage to $15.

The union and community allies told Toomey that American workers need to see larger figures on their tax returns next year. They said with Toomey among the members of the U.S. Senate who voted last month against a proposal to consider including a $15 minimum wage in the American Rescue Plan, PAJB members and their allies decided to take action to demand that Toomey and Congress pass separate legislation raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.

“Pennsylvania is way behind other states,” Chemchick said. “All we want is for people to be able to survive on what they are making.”

Heisler and Chemchick said Toomey and other members of Congress are supported by large corporations that oppose increasing the minimum wage.

“We are all in this together,” Heisler said. “We want to create an economy for everyone.”

Heisler provided some statistics from the Keystone Research Center:

• The Pennsylvania Legislature is considering a proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2024.

• An increase in the minimum wage to $15 per hour would boost the wages of 2.2 million workers, or 37%, of the state’s resident workforce. In total, wages in Pennsylvania would increase by $9.1 billion.

• The majority of workers who would get a raise as a result of a statewide minimum wage increase are adults (89.7%) working full-time (58.5%). The workers that would benefit from a minimum wage increase earn a significant share of their family’s income.

• 30% of the workforce makes under $15 per hour.

• 34% are under the age of 40.

• 62% are women.

• 38% are college students.

<strong>Toomey responds</strong>

“Numerous independent studies have confirmed that a universal and arbitrary federal $15-per-hour minimum wage will destroy millions of jobs across the country,” said Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley. “It is ironic that the SEIU is advocating for a policy that would send its members to the unemployment line in droves, just as our economy is recovering from the pandemic.”

“The best thing highly paid union bosses can do for their workers right now is to advocate for a fully reopened economy that would allow them to work on Thursday mornings instead of standing in front of my office,” he added.

Toomey also said it’s also important to note that eight Democratic senators voted against raising the minimum wage to $15-per-hour on March 5:

• Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.

• Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V.

• Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.

• Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.

• Sen. Angus King, I-Maine (King is a member of the Democratic caucus)

• Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del.

• Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

• Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.

Further, Toomey said a 2019 study by Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal office found that increasing the minimum wage to $12 per hour would kill 34,000 jobs.

And, Toomey said according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median hourly wage in Pennsylvania is $18.99.

“And lastly, specific to Pennsylvania, the Employment Policies Institute has a recent study in which it predicts raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour in Pennsylvania would destroy more than 143,000 jobs — second most of any state in the country, only behind Texas,” Toomey said.

$15 backers rally outside Toomey’s offices