MKE Bus Tour to Increase the Minimum Wage (Tuesday, July 24th)

Less than 48 hours after the minimum wage bus tour rolled through poverty wage workplaces in Milwaukee, the County Board approved a resolution calling on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage and the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers.  The county is the first local unit of government in the country to support the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2012 (H.R. 6211).

“I am proud to have passed this resolution on the same day that the Fair Minimum Wage Act was introduced in Congress. CEOs of the 50 largest low-wage employers make an average of over $9 million a year, while minimum wage pays just over $15,000. The pay for just one of those CEOs is the same as the total for over 625 workers trying to support families,” said the resolution’s author County Supervisor Nikiya Harris.

Citizen Action of Wisconsin and other members of the coalition behind the campaign worked with Supervisor Harris to draft, introduce and pass the minimum wage resolution. Sup. Harris was a featured speaker on the bus tour held Tuesday as part of a nationwide day of action to raise the minimum wage

“It feels great to see the County Board stand up for people like me,” said Jasmine West, a former minimum wage McDonald’s employee who took part in Tuesday’s action. “When I worked at McDonald’s, I couldn’t support my family and had to move in with my mother. Something is wrong when hardworking Americans are forced to go on public assistance and still can’t make ends meet. I really hope that Congress passes the Fair Minimum Wage Act; it’s the right thing for Milwaukee and for our Country,” continued West.

Though cost of living has gone through the roof, the minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for three year.  The current minimum wage amounts to only $15,080 a year for full-time work, almost $9,000 below the federal poverty line for a family of four. The minimum wage for tipped workers is even lower, remaining frozen at $2.13 since 1991.  In fact, there is not a single city in the Country where a minimum wage employee working full-time can afford a market rate two bedroom apartment.

“The resolution passed today brings Milwaukee County to the forefront of a national conversation about how to best restore balance, fairness, and economic security to the millions of hard working American families that remain deep in poverty despite working full-time,” said Jennifer Epps-Addison, Economic Justice Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “We’ve created a culture in our society where companies pass the cost of their poverty wages on to American taxpayers. For example, in Wisconsin, the top three employers of BadgerCare recipients – Walmart, McDonald’s, and Aurora  – are all making huge profits on the backs publicly subsidized minimum wage workers,” added Epps-Addison.

The campaign to increase the minimum wage is backed by a coalition of community, faith, and labor organizations including Citizen Action of Wisconsin,  9to5, We Are Milwaukee, SEIU, MICAH, Voces de la Frontera, AFT Local 212, and Wisconsin Jobs Now.  More information and the text of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2012.