Labor & Industry Acting Secretary, Reps. Merski, and Harkins, Erie Child Care Worker Urging $12 Minimum Wage with Pathway to $15 05/12/2021 Harrisburg, PA – With polls showing strong support for increasing the minimum wage as red states such as Florida are doing, Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Acting Secretary Jennifer Berrier joined Representatives Patrick Harkins and Robert Merski and an Erie child and home care worker to call for the legislature to raise the wage to $12 an hour with a pathway to $15. "This is not about $7.25, it's about every worker who makes less than $12 an hour," said Acting Sec. Berrier. "Too many people are working hard, especially at jobs providing services to the public during the pandemic, and still struggling to pay for food or other basic needs. It's time we treat every Pennsylvania worker with respect and dignity by increasing our minimum wage to at least $12 an hour."