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.”
