Madison's New Minimum Wage Law Benefits May Not Be Seen In Paycheck
Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL/WISCONSIN :: B1
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Dean Mosiman Wisconsin State Journal

Madison's new minimum wage law is now delivering 55 cents an hour more for the lowest-paid workers.

But most people make more than the new $5.70 minimum, which will gradually increase to $7.75 by Jan. 1, 2008.

So the most meaningful immediate impact may be for low-skill employees who are denied overtime or who don't get paid at all, said Sarah Shatz, director of the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice.

Now, complaints of wage law violations can be investigated locally by the city's Equal Opportunities Commission, which will complement state and federal offices that have large caseloads, she said.


Although small in number, some busboys, dishwashers and other service employees work long hours but get a flat salary that ends up delivering less than the minimum wage, Shatz said. Others are denied pay, told they had given inadequate notice, done poor work or that there was no money available for pay, she said.

"It will help low-wage workers," she said, adding that the coalition alone handled more than 120 wage complaints last year, many for refusal of salary.

The city's law, which faces a court challenge and is the subject of a temporary injunction hearing Wednesday, raised the minimum wage for most employees from $5.15 an hour to $5.70 on Saturday.

It's unclear exactly how many people are getting the pay bump this week, but about 17,200 workers are expected to eventually benefit from the law, census data shows.

Although the initial 55 cents an hour won't raise people out of poverty, it's not causing any calamity, either, said Ald. Austin King, 8th District, who helped lead the campaign for the law.

"The world didn't implode," he said. "All the McDonald's (restaurants) in Madison didn't move to Fitchburg."

Others, like Tom Beach, president of the Madison Pizzeria Uno, see it differently.

Currently, all of his regular employees make far above the city's minimum wage -- except tipped employees, who are getting an immediate boost from $2.33 to $2.57, Beach said.

The approximately 75,000 hours of tipped wages will cost his business about $18,000 this year, Beach said. But after the minimum tip rate rises to $3.50 an hour on Jan. 1, 2008, the law will cost about $87,750 annually, he said. "Initially, it's not the end of the world," Beach said. "But when it goes up ... that becomes a burden."

But there's a bigger problem, Beach said. Tipped employees, who currently make $10 to $15 an hour in wages and tips combined, are getting the raises, he said. "Where's the logic in that?" he said.

The fate of the law will begin to clear up on Wednesday when a judge considers whether to grant the temporary injunction sought by a group of business organizations called the Main Street Coalition for Economic Growth.