Posted on 05/31/2005 10:12:30 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Wisconsin's minimum wage is going up. Finally.
After more than eight months of bitter political gridlock in the State Capitol, the lowest legal wage in the state will climb from $5.15 an hour to $5.70 starting Wednesday - the first change to Wisconsin's minimum wage since 1997.
The state Department of Workforce Development estimates that anywhere from 40,000 to 50,000 people in Wisconsin make $5.15 an hour. About 100,000 earn less than $5.70 an hour, the agency says.
"It's been a long fight, and it's been long overdue," said Senate Minority Leader Judy Robson, D-Beloit. "People now can start going to the bank. They can buy gasoline and groceries and milk and all the things they need to make their family healthy."
But Republicans say employers will struggle to meet a higher minimum wage and other wages that will increase to keep pace. Layoffs could loom, they say.
"Six months down the line, that's when businesses are going to start complaining and problems will start to develop," said state Sen. Tom Reynolds, R-West Allis, chairman of the Senate Labor and Election Reform Committee. "It's going to be just startling."
Democrats have hammered at Republicans to raise the minimum wage for more than eight months in a fight that spilled into city council chambers around the state.
The brouhaha began last year when Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle proposed raising the minimum wage to $6.50 by using administrative rules. Republicans who control the Legislature blocked them, saying the increase would hurt small businesses.
Tired of the impasse, the Madison City Council voted to raise the city's minimum wage to $5.70 Jan. 1 and $7.75 by 2008. Milwaukee, La Crosse and Eau Claire followed with their own local minimum wages.
Republicans, worried Wisconsin could become a patchwork of minimum wages, agreed this spring not to block the increase. In exchange, Doyle agreed to sign into law a GOP measure prohibiting local minimum wages.
The minimum wage will rise to $5.70 this week, then $6.50 in June 2006. Doyle is expected to sign the local minimum wage ban into law by Wednesday, spokeswoman Melanie Fonder said.
But some Republicans still aren't happy. Reynolds said his party caved in to pressure from labor unions and business lobbyists looking to stop local minimum wages.
Vern Krawczyk, who owns Sky Top Supper Club in Green Bay, said the minimum wage was meant for entry-level workers, not to sustain families. His dishwashers start at minimum wage, but he's more worried other wages will increase to keep up.
"It would affect anybody," he said. "If somebody takes a quarter from you, don't you feel it?"
And in Madison, city officials aren't going away quietly.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz fears a ban on local minimum wages will rob cities of their leverage the next time a minimum wage increase comes up in the Legislature, although he promised the governor last week that he would repeal Madison's local wage if Doyle vetoes the ban.
Alderman Austin King, who authored Madison's local minimum wage resolution, filed a complaint with Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager accusing Doyle and Republican leaders of an illegal vote trade - bumping the wage to $6.50 in exchange for the ban on local wages.
Lautenschlager spokesman Scot Ross said the Justice Department is reviewing the complaint.
Fonder, the governor's spokeswoman, said Doyle always has supported one statewide minimum wage and will sign the ban.
Oh, for Pete's Sake! It's .55 an hour, Judy! You didn't do JACK for your constituents. .45 of that .55 "raise" will go to State and Federal taxes in one way or another.
And these people will still get all the social hand-outs your party has convinced them they Constitutionally deserve. *Rolleyes*
ROFLMAO! This is what Wisconsin Democrats consider a victory!
"Doyle is expected to sign the local minimum wage ban into law by Wednesday, spokeswoman Melanie Fonder said."
I wonder if he'll really stick to his word on this? I can't wait for Wednesday!
Poverty has been defeated by this increase...again.
State Republicans caved in to Bingo Doyle....this is nothing but a payoff to unions, who get an automatic increase whenever the minimum wage is raised.
To all Wisconsin businesses: If you're not happy with the economy in WI, then give Florida a try. The economy is booming down here.
Of course the minimum wage will not be $5.70 an hour in Wisconsin after this act. It will be $0.00 per hour as it is every where. All the government can do is remove from negotiation all wages between $0.00 and $5.69 and thereby increasing the number of workers with $0.00 as the best offer they can get.
The republicans should have left it a patchwork of minimum wages. Then they could see the effect higher wages would have on businesses.
Who said people deserve the government they elect?? Enjoy those higher unemployment rates, Wisconsin! (With apologies to those handful of conservatives who live there.)
Minimum what? What exactly is the minimum wage considered a minimum for?
Not only that, but businesses will have to raise their prices to compensate for the increased labor costs.
What of the people whose work output is not worth $5.70 per hour?
The people in the Rust Belt states think that the Sun Belt states are winning the competition for economic growth because of the weather; but the weather hasn't changed in two hundred years.
And they shouldn't be able to DICTATE what ANY business owner pays THEIR EMPLOYEES. If she wants to do that she needs to start her own business! Fat chance!
To all Wisconsin businesses: If you're not happy with the economy in WI, then give Florida a try. The economy is booming down here.
Are you kidding? We just passed a minimum wage law that forces employers to pay $6.15 / hour. I agree the economy is booming, but the voters weren't thinking when this was voted in.
see: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/initiatives/fulltext/37732-1.htm
and now of course, they'll have to raise the poverty level to make sure these people making their $5.70 can keep getting all their (state paid) benefits.
Yeah right. The Republicans did what they do best - assume the fetal position and commence to thumb-sucking.
With the stroke of a pen...government puts money in people's pockets...and some spoilsports are worried that government cannot just create wealth...that minimum wage requirements lead to layoffs and increased prices
But we're way ahead of them...government just needs to pass some more legislation prohibiting layoffs and capping prices...simple
I wonder how many illegals will now be hired to offset the official minimum wage?
This is not a great idea. Us WI conservatives are working on electing a Republican governor next election, but the going it tough because there still isn't a voter ID law that is fair. Doyle will be able to steal the next election if we can't get this fixed.
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