Abele’s Living Wage Veto: Still Wrong After Two Years
Abele vetoed the Living Wage Ordinance, condemned it with misinformation, and went so far as to go to Madison to try and get Republicans to step in and subvert local control again.
MILWAUKEE: Today marks the second anniversary of Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele’s veto of the Living Wage Ordinance.
The county board overrode Abele’s veto and raised the county living wage to $11.32 on March 19, 2014. The increase aimed to use the power of the community to help hundreds of private sector workers achieve a wage that they could make a living off of. This helps raise the floor for what all workers are paid in other sectors.
Abele vetoed the Living Wage Ordinance, condemned it with misinformation, and went so far as to go to Madison to try and get Republicans to step in and subvert local control again.
The following is a statement from State Senator Chris Larson:
“Abele’s 2014 false predictions of economic disaster for the County are taken right out of the Republican play book. He was wrong then and he’s wrong now. The living wage increase has benefited thousands of hardworking families in our County. The ability for these families to attain economic security was threatened two years ago by Abele’s veto.
“While I appreciate the current county executive’s recent election-year conversion on this issue, we already know he’s done more work to stand in the way of struggling workers than to stand on their side.
“As our next county executive, I pledge to stand with my neighbors and use the collective power of our community to ensure that when we work toward economic development, we will also ensure our neighbors benefit directly through higher wages.”
As state senator, Chris Larson has co-authored legislation to raise the Wisconsin minimum wage to a living wage of $15 an hour step-by-step by 2020 and fix it to inflation after that.
Larson for County Executive
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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