With a dramatic proposed increase in the minimum wage, it's easy to fall into misguided, Robin Hood-like economics. This probably the case with the proposal to up the Madison's minimum wage to $7.75, a $2.60 increase over the state's current minimum wage.
Although a reasonable minimum wage increase at the state level is is undoubtedly needed, such a sharp increase on the local level may hurt more workers than it helps.
In order to get their proposal on the Feb. 17 ballot, the Madison Fair Wage Campaign created an ordinance that will go before the city council. If struck down, their proposal will still get on the ballot with the 12,853 needed signatures.
Petitioners for this proposal are all around campus. Please ask questions before you sign the petition.
If businesses are required to pay employees more, there will be fewer jobs. Therefore, an increase in minimum wage will result in an increase in unemployment.
Second, benefits such as health care will be cut because employers will no longer be able to afford this added expenditure. Maybe Madison should work on benefits for all workers instead.
Third, an increase in minimum wage may not significantly disrupt corporate businesses like Starbucks and Taco Bell, but it will disrupt small businesses. These smaller, local businesses that help cultivate Madison's culture, may not survive a drastic minimum wage increase.
Fourth, our community needs the lower paying jobs that would be cut by this increase. These jobs, filled by college and high school students, are a necessary force of relatively unskilled labor. The university in particular creates a lot of jobs that could be cut, such as the infamous card swiper job. However, both the students and the community need these lower paying jobs. When looking at the greater scale, this increase could discourage businesses from coming to Madison. If Madison has a noticeably higher minimum wage, businesses may look for cheaper labor elsewhere. However, a wage-increase on the state level would make such a job-drain a non-issue
This campaign assumes students are self-absorbed and do not understand the larger implications of an increased minimum wage. This is a huge increase, and if it passes, our community will feel its negative ripple.
