PHILADELPHIA –  The following is Mayor Kenney’s statement on today’s passage by Philadelphia City Council of legislation that will ensure a fair work week for retail, food service, and hospitality workers across Philadelphia, and a separate measure that raises the Philadelphia 21st Century Minimum Wage for city workers and employees of city contractors to $15 an hour:

“I applaud members of City Council for their overwhelming approval today of two pieces of legislation that will help give working Philadelphians a chance to improve the quality of their family’s lives.  The Fair Work Week and Minimum Wage bills will go a long way to ensuring that our hard-working residents have the dignity of stable employment and a steady schedule.  City Council members have always had the needs of working Philadelphians front and center of their legislative agenda.  Their support of these measures is another shining example of that commitment.

“As this morning’s Inquirer story on recent census data makes clear, poverty doesn’t just show up one day, knocking on a family’s door.  Poverty works its way into households in insidious, subtle ways — such as when parents must choose between buying new shoes for their growing toddler, or a decent meal for the family.  It shouldn’t be that way.  These bills are an important step toward ensuring that working families don’t face those difficult choices.  With today’s Council passage, I look forward now to signing both measures into law.”