Pay raises for Wisconsin state workers up for approval

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Pay raises for Wisconsin state employees are scheduled to be voted on next week by a special legislative committee.

The panel of legislative leaders is scheduled to meet on Dec. 18 to act on the pay plans, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’s office said Tuesday. The Legislature’s budget committee approved the pay plans, but they must also win approval by another committee comprised of Vos and other legislative leaders.

Democrats had been calling on Republicans to set the meeting so the raises can go into effect in January as planned.

State workers are slated to receive a 2% general wage increase in each of the next two years. Employees at the University of Wisconsin System and on the Madison campus are also to receive the same increase.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is also proposing that state employees’ minimum wage be set to $15 an hour starting on June 7. Prison guards are in line to see even higher raises, with starting wages increase from $16.65 to $18.22 an hour. That pay boost is designed to address staffing shortages in Wisconsin’s prisons.

The entire package is expected to cost just over $84 million.