Scott Walker Strips Wisconsin Workers Of 'Living Wage' In New State Budget 07/13/2015 Updated: 07/14/2015 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed the new state budget into law on Sunday with a last-minute change that strips the words "living wage" from state laws and replaces it with "minimum wage." The change means minimum-wage Wisconsin workers will earn nearly $6,000 per year less than what the Massachusetts Institute of Technology calculates is a living wage in the state. And they will have no recourse, according to the Center for American Progress [ https://www.americanprogress.org/about/mission/ ]. MIT says a living wage [ http://livingwage.mit.edu/states/55 ] would be $10.13 an hour. The new law eliminates the ability of low-wage workers to appeal for a living wage. Previously, Wisconsin law stated [ http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/104/02 ] that employee pay "shall be not less than a living wage," defined as "adequate to permit any employee to maintain herself or himself in minimum comfort, decency, physical and moral well-being." Wisconsin's living wage was tied to the state minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour [ http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm#Wisconsin ]. The old law allowed residents to challenge the living wage amount with the Department of Workforce Development. Last year, 100 workers [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/09/scott-walker-minimum-wage_n_5961506.html ], most earning just above the minimum wage, did just that, contending their pay wasn't a living wage. The state denied their claim [ http://media.jrn.com/documents/equal+rights+letter.pdf ], declaring "there is no reasonable cause to believe that the wages paid to the complainants are not a living wage." The workers later filed a lawsuit against the state. Walker, who announced his 2016 presidential campaign on Monday, also decided workers don't need weekends off. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [ http://www.jsonline.com/business/budget-amendment-would-allow-7-day-workweeks-b99533515z1-312310311.html ], the budget Walker signed "would allow factory and retail employees to work seven days without a day off, as long as they said in writing that they were doing so voluntarily." The old law required [ https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/er/labor_standards_bureau/one_day_rest_in_seven_law.htm ] employers to give workers at least one day off for every seven days of work. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/13/scott-walker-eliminates-living-wage_n_7789472.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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