A coalition of progressive political groups and workers is calling on state lawmakers to establish a $20 per hour minimum wage, along with other proposed policy changes around wages in Wisconsin.
The Living Wage Coalition was officially launched Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, according to a release. It sent a letter to state lawmakers arguing families in the state are struggling more than ever, as housing, child care and health care have become “unaffordable” while food and energy prices continue to rise as well.
“For decades, real wages stagnated, and even declined for the growing low end of the labor market, eroding living standards and economic security while income inequality exploded,” authors wrote.
The letter says policymakers in the state have “allowed the bottom to fall out of the labor market” for working Wisconsin.
“At no point in our lifetimes has the minimum wage guaranteed Wisconsin workers enough to pay the bills,” authors wrote. “It’s the time for policymakers to act.”
Along with setting the state’s minimum wage to at least $20 per hour “phased in as quickly as possible on a reasonable timeline,” the coalition is seeking to have the minimum wage indexed to inflation and to “restore local control” over minimum wage to municipal governments in order to address local labor market conditions. The current minimum wage is $7.25 at the state and federal level.
The letter notes more than 800,000 workers in the state make less than $20 per hour, which is nearly a third of the state’s workforce, based on figures from the Economic Policy Institute.
Peter Rickman, president and business manager for coalition member the Milwaukee Area Service & Hospitality Workers Union, says real wages, household income and living standards have been “stagnant” for two generations and declining for low-wage workers.
“Despite massive productivity gains, we’re getting left behind while the share of economic output returning to capital versus labor has not been this high since the Gilded Age that brought on the Great Depression,” he said in a statement on the coalition forming, arguing $20 per hour is “the bare minimum as a floor for our labor market.”
The coalition was formed by Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Fighting Oligarchy, Milwaukee Area Service & Hospitality Workers Union, Our Wisconsin Revolution and Wisconsin Working Families Power/Party.
See the release.
