Demonstrators met in front of the Fraser Street post office where they waved signs demanding 15 dollars an hour as the new minimum wage. Organizers decided that April 15th, Tax Day and “four-fifteen” was the perfect day for the rally.
Greg Overturf works at Mt. Nittany Medical Center and led the demonstration.
“When I was growing up my parents struggled finding jobs that were able to pay," Overturf said. "I’m the oldest of four kids and that really brought me out here today to motivate me. Everyone deserves living wages.”
According to a report by the left-leaning Keystone Research Center, 52 percent of Pennsylvania nursing home workers can’t support their families with their current wages.
Steffani Yeater, works at Golden Living Center in Lewistown. She says she makes 11.50 an hour and she and her fiancé, a factory worker, struggle to make ends meet.
“We don’t have bills like cable, internet, all that," Yeater said. "We have necessities and still can’t pay for them.”
Similar demonstrations were held in 200 cities around the country and at nine other locations in Pennsylvania.