Local community leaders have 59 days to acquire 12,853 valid signatures if Madison is to be the first city in the Midwest to establish a municipal minimum wage of $7.75.

“The challenge is daunting. Most referendum campaigns fail in the signature-gathering phase,” said Joe Lindstrom, University of Wisconsin student and member of the student group Poverty Action Network.

Lindstrom was among several organizers of the campaign to speak at a press conference Monday outside the City-County Building, preceding an afternoon of signature-gathering on Library Mall, on State Street and around the Capitol Square.

The minimum wage referendum, which would be part of the Feb. 17, 2004 presidential primary ballot, would increase minimum wage to $7.75 in general and to $3.88 for tipped employees.

The raise is 50 percent more than the current $5.15 minimum wage. According to campaign organizers, the raise would affect about 10 percent of Madison workers, primarily waitstaff, dishwashers, bartenders, cashiers and telemarketers.

“We all know that no one can survive on a wage of $5.15 per hour, especially with the high cost of living in Madison. This raise will help Madison families meet their basic needs, climb out of poverty and rely less on social services,” said State Assembly Rep. Terese Berceau, co-chair of the Madison Fair Wage Campaign, which filed as a political group in support of the referendum.

Berceau said the wage would reflect the values and the reality of the city. She said the reality is that cost of living in the city is high, especially housing, and families earning minimum wage are not able to afford a house, and in some cases, must rely on government services without contributing to the tax base.

According to Berceau, Madison residents should support the $7.75 minimum wage to help families get ahead and create a better life, and the increase would be a chance to prove Madison stands by those values.

Opponents of the referendum argue that the increase would cause cuts in jobs and would force businesses to relocate in outlying communities.

State Assembly Rep. Mark Pocan, co-chair of the Madison Fair Wage Campaign and small business owner for 15 years, said raising the minimum wage would be beneficial to businesses in Madison, however.

“Workers are the most important thing to invest in,” Pocan said at the press conference.

By retaining employees through the minimum-wage increase, he said, employers would spend less on recruitment and training and may see an increase in productivity and satisfaction among workers, in addition to increased spending power among consumers.

“I challenge our critics to provide any reputable examples of a time that an increase in the minimum wage has been followed by a jump in the unemployment rate or the inflation rate,” Pocan said in a press release.

Other cities are confronting similar proposals. San Fransisco voters will decide on a local minimum wage Nov. 4, and Santa Fe recently raised the city’s minimum wage to $8.50.

Currently, the municipal minimum wage approved in New Orleans is being challenged in Louisiana State Court.

“They all have faced litigation; it’s one of the realties of an economic battle,” said Tom Powell, former City Council member and primary organizer of the campaign.