Gov. Jim Doyle called on lawmakers Monday to approve a two-year plan that would increase Wisconsin's minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50 per hour.
Doyle, speaking at the First United Methodist Church, 203 Wisconsin Ave., said the first minimum wage increase in seven years would be a boon to working families.
\I am urging Republican lawmakers to stand together with business and labor and support this increase,"" he said. ""A single mother should not have to stop at a food pantry after work to feed her children. Our children should not go hungry or suffer from poor nutrition because their parents work full time but still don't earn enough to make ends meet. These workers deserve better, and we have the means to help them better provide for themselves and their families.""
According to Department of Workforce Development spokesperson Rose Lynch, raising the minimum wage has been one of Doyle's main goals in office.
""He is truly committed to the low-wage workers in Wisconsin,"" she said. ""He has a goal to raise the average wage for all Wisconsinites, and the minimum wage is the first step in that effort.""
However, not all legislators approve of Doyle's plan. While the governor's Minimum Wage Advisory Council supported the planned raise in a 16-2 vote, the Senate Labor Committee, led by state Sen. Tom Reynolds, R-West Allis, objected to the rule in July, stalling the proposal.
Nick Cekosh, a legislative aide to Reynolds, said the increase would bring the state out of compliance with federal law and increase paperwork.
""Right now the business climate is hard enough in this state as it is, and creating extra paperwork and two different standards between state and federal law just complicates the matter,"" he said.
Cekosh added that the senator also believed a wage increase in a recovering economy would discourage businesses from coming to Wisconsin.
The increase will come up in front of the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules Thursday, where Reynolds will testify. The committee can choose to either sustain the Senate Labor Committee's objection to the raise or let the increase take effect. If adopted, the minimum wage will go to $5.70 per hour at the beginning of 2005 and to $6.50 per hour in 2006.
