In September, 100 workers here in Wisconsin filed a complaint with the administration of Gov. Scott Walker (R) alleging that the state’s current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour violates State Statute 104.02, which states, “Every wage paid or agreed to be paid by any employer to any employee, except as otherwise provided in s. 104.07, shall be not less than a living wage.” If we take a working mom with one child who works full-time for $7.25 per hour, she’d earn just over $15,000 per year, which would put her and her child below the Federal poverty line. That single mom would be eligible for a host of public safety net programs, which flies in the face of the notion of $7.25 per hour being a living wage.
However, Gov. Scott Walker’s administration feels that $7.25 per hour is absolutely a “living wage,” as his administration rejected the complaint filed by the workers without actually bothering to contact them.
[O]n Monday, the Department of Workforce Development’s (DWD) Equal Rights Division Administrator Robert Rodriguez responded in a letter, saying, “The Department has determined that there is no reasonable cause to believe that the wages paid to the complainants are not a living wage.” In a press release, the department says it reviewed the documents submitted in the complaint and found, “Most of the statements list wages that are in excess of the current minimum wage – as high as $15.07 an hour. Many of the statements reference items that go beyond basic necessities; others cite receiving public aid or additional sources of income.” It added, “Conversely, several studies that have been widely reported on point to significant job losses as a result of an increase in the minimum wage.”
The only way $7.25 per hour could be a living wage is if someone making $7.25 an hour worked two or three full-time jobs, and it’s stunning that Gov. Walker and his administrators making six-figure salaries are so out of touch that they actually believe $7.25 per hour is a living wage.
Someone needs to challenge Mr. Rodriguez to try to live on what he claims is a living wage. “Basic necessities” and mere survival are not the same thing as living — people who work full time deserve better.
I think that immediately we should begin paying our legislators the living wage of $7.25 per hour. They deserve a living wage for all that they do, especially taking Wisconsin so far forward economically over the past 4 years!
Yes, the $88/day our legislators get for walking in the door each day is near equivalent to a 12 hour work day for someone working at minimum wage before withholdings.
Quoting John Nichols from a radio interview on Wednesday afternoon, the actual figure for a living wage is $20.85.
let’s see car payment 265, medical bills(with Insurance)$314, car insurance $92, food $200 per month, rent $550(maybe a nice place), utilities $300(bare minimum, no cable), miscellaneous $200. These are just bare minimum expenses, these for a yr come to $24,000. How is 7.25 40hrs a week livable wage? If you have no kids, no car or no rent maybe. Get real things have changed in 20yrs!!!