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Milwaukee mayor signs new wage law

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Also by Rachel Patzer:

Government group announces research guidelines (April 27, 2005)
JFC scales back Doyle's hunting, fishing license fees (April 28, 2005)
High court hears cap arguments (April 28, 2005)
Green to run for governor (May 2, 2005)
Edwards tours city's family center (April 4, 2005)

by Rachel Patzer

Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett signed an ordinance Monday to increase the city’s minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50 per hour over the next two years. The measure will go into effect in October.

“This is a reasonable increase in the minimum wage given the fact that it has been frozen for more than seven years,” Barrett said in a release. “The hardworking people in the city of Milwaukee deserve the right to better wages to support their families.”

The measure is similar to a statewide increase proposed by a bipartisan committee appointed by Gov. Jim Doyle. Legislation for a statewide increase in minimum wage has been stalled in the legislature, however, with the majority of Republicans against an increase and the majority of Democrats for an increase.

Sen. Tom Reynolds, R-West Allis, has been among the most vocal opponents of an increased minimum wage.

“A person’s wage is based on the marketplace, their work skills, the company itself … and how they promote people,” Reynolds said. “The government is supposed to have a backseat role in the whole process of what people make.”

Reynolds said each city should have the same minimum wage because businesses cannot operate effectively when the local government determines each wage separately.

Doyle has also said he would rather not have “patchwork” ordinances with different minimum wages in each city, but he “understands” why communities have to do it, according to Doyle spokesperson Melanie Fonder.

After Madison, Milwaukee is the second city to enact an increase in minimum wage in Wisconsin. Madison’s citywide minimum wage increased to $5.70 in January and will rise to $7.75 over the next two years.

Ald. Austin King, District 8, the lead sponsor of the Madison minimum wage increase, said Barrett’s approval of the increase in Milwaukee shows how far the state has come in the past year.

“[The signing of the ordinance] shows that Madison once again is leading the way for the entire state in terms of pushing more progressive policies to benefit working people,” King said.

King said he hopes similar ordinances will keep spreading throughout the state and expressed optimism the state legislature would soon give in to Doyle’s “modest” proposal to increase wages to $6.50 an hour over two years.

Many Democrats have expressed distaste with the Republican blocking of a statewide minimum wage increase.

“There is no good reason for Republicans to continue their stall tactics,” state Sen. Judith Robson, D-Beloit, said in an e-mail. “Cities are not afraid of increasing their minimum wage … they know it won’t scare away businesses or lead to lay-offs.”

According to King, cities in Wisconsin are “lining up” to regulate their wages, including La Crosse.

Citywide minimum wage increases will keep happening if the legislature remains opposed to a statewide increase, according to King.

“It is still my hope that the state will act responsibly and enact a statewide minimum wage,” Barrett said in the release. “We are disappointed by the legislative stonewalling that continues to delay this wage increase.”

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Anonymous (March 1, 2005 @ 9:47am):

Yeah, Milwaukee! My hometown is doing it right! Props to Mayor Barrett, who up until now has basically been a fly on the wall. This is a good issue for him to emerge from his cocoon.

Anonymous (March 1, 2005 @ 12:09pm):

Why stop at $6.50? Let's to go to $8, or $10 or $15. Where's the limit? Why does to make sense to go to $6.50, but not $15?

How the hell is a teenager going to get a part-time job if he has to be payed a "living wage"? Employers are only going to pay a rate thats fair. So either more people will lose their jobs, or their jobs will take on more reponsibilities. In the end, gradual increases arent a real big deal because the market evens it out, so that no one really ends up making a living wage anyway.

So I ask, has raising the minimum wage ever reduced poverty? or raised the standard of living? or were these things done by the people who work hard, pay taxes, create wealth, invest, create economic growth, and create capital? Read a basic economics book and learn something.

Anonymous (March 1, 2005 @ 2:13pm):

I am from Milwaukee too, and it's about time the minimum wage goes up! And keeping the minumum wage frozen at $5.15 surely will NOT reduced poverty, in response to the previous comment. For people to afford a decent standard of living, their minimum wage must increase with inflation. There is the same problem in the education system with teachers-many work without contracts, and therefore without raises, even though there is a higher demand placed on individuals at work. Sure, the market will even itself out, but it will only do so if wages are raised.

Anonymous (March 1, 2005 @ 2:14pm):

Anonymous (March 1, 2005 @ 2:18pm):

Teachers without contracts?! They're all in the teachers union! They've all only but guaranteed their jobs for life. Shit, if they didn't have contracts maybe some of the shitty ones could finally get fired and the better ones get paid more, you know, like everyone else in the real world.

Anonymous (March 1, 2005 @ 2:27pm):

"keeping the minumum wage frozen at $5.15 surely will NOT reduced poverty"

OK, I asked "Will RAISING the minimum wage reduce poverty"? If not that, then what will and why do you want to raise the minimum wage? Explain to me why we shouldn't raise it to $20 then. Have you ever considered that inflation might be an EFFECT of raising the minimum wage?

Anonymous (March 1, 2005 @ 2:36pm):

Most of the time teachers do not have a renewed contract each fall, so the person above is right, there is no raise among teachers for the most part. Budgets are cutting back on things such as music and art, and each teacher has more duties and must work more hours for the same wage each year. This is not appropriate considering the work that they do, and many are being laid off because of the budget cuts. In years to come there will be a major demand for teachers.

Anonymous (March 1, 2005 @ 3:01pm):

Show me an example where "many teachers are being laid off because of the budget cuts." I don't think that has ever happened in the history of public schools.

Then explain to me WHY there is going to be a "huge demand" for teachers?

Anonymous (March 1, 2005 @ 3:22pm):

you've got to be kidding right? Ok in my district, an orchestra teacher was cut, one art teacher was cut, and a gym teacher was cut. There were also two forth grade teachers cut. So now the middle school art teacher has to teach at both the middle school and the elementary school due to budget cuts. And why will there be a shortage???? Well that's pretty self explanitory. If there are less teachers, and because of population growth more students, we will eventually need more teachers, and their pay will have to go up because there will be a demand for them. Maybe you come from some rich ass neighborhood where every school has a bottomless amount of money, and teachers receive a raise each year. Are you trying to tell me that teachers receive a raise??? Many teachers are working under the same contract regulations as five years ago, with no raise!!!!!

Anonymous (March 1, 2005 @ 4:10pm):

my mom is a teacher and she still has her contract from 2001. it hasnt been renewed since then

Anonymous (March 1, 2005 @ 4:43pm):

"Show me an example where "many teachers are being laid off because of the budget cuts." I don't think that has ever happened in the history of public schools."

Read on:

- Roy Romer, superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District, was forced to cut $428.5 million from the budget. He blames "the recession impacting all school districts across the state and nation." The biggest chunk was taken out of classroom expenditures because they account for 92 percent of the overall budget. After school programs, education for migrant students and administrative jobs have also taken a hit

- The school board in Minneapolis has cut $30 million from next year's budget, or 5 percent of the planned total; gone are 203 classroom teaching jobs and 70 full-time administrative positions. Other urban and suburban school districts in Minnesota's Twin Cities region are reportedly running $100 million in the red, according to a survey conducted by the Association of Metropolitan School Districts.

- In the small town of Neenah, Wis., school administrators cut teaching jobs for the first time in 20 years to slash $1.5 million out of next year's budget. "We have officially hit the wall," is what one administrator told the press when describing the budget realities.

- Officials in the state of Oklahoma had to cut $22 million from the education budget for school year 2001-02. This spring, districts were instituting hiring freezes and laying off janitors and bus drivers. "We are just trying to survive," Jerry Needham, superintendent in Oklahoma City, says. Officials are bracing for more cuts because the state's deficit is expected to reach $350 million next year.

Source:
http://www.districtadministration.com/page.cfm?p=190

I think 203 teachers could be classified as many