Milwaukee County Supervisor David Bowen To Hold News Conference on Living Wage Monday, December 16th at 9:30 A.M.

Supervisor David Bowen, with other members of the County Board and community, will hold a news conference on living wage at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, December 16, in the rotunda of the Milwaukee County Courthouse. Supervisor Bowen has introduced a living wage resolution that would pay a living wage to employees of companies that do business with Milwaukee County.

If passed in Finance, Personnel and Audit Committee on Monday, December 16, the ordinance will be considered at the Milwaukee County Board meeting on Thursday, December 19.

The resolution calls for companies that do business with the County to compensate their employees an hourly wage at 110 percent of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL) for a family as well as developers who receive Economic Development Financial Assistance over $1 million Dollars. Every year the FPL is set by the federal government. For 2014 it is set at $12.45.

“Poverty-wage jobs drag down our economy and our community,” Bowen said.  “As it stands today, Milwaukee County uses public dollars to contract with and provide tax breaks to private corporations that pay their workers so little that they’re forced to rely on public assistance so tax payers pick up the tab.  That’s just wrong.

“We need to pay workers a living wage at 110 percent of FPL to allow them to sustain themselves and their families. It’s simply not reasonable to have to work as hard as you can and still be below the poverty level in many types of jobs, from janitors to security guards and home care workers. This is an issue of fairness, and Milwaukee County should do the right thing by the people who are paid by companies that receive tax dollars from the County.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.

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