Lasry campaign clarifies $15 wage claim at Fiserv Forum
For months, a centerpiece of Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Alex Lasry’s campaign was that as a Milwaukee Bucks’ executive he helped negotiate a deal that led to Fiserv Forum workers being paid at least a $15 an hour minimum wage when the arena opened in 2018.
It turns out, the $15 minimum wage didn’t kick in until 2020.
On Thursday, the campaign walked back the claim and rewrote a portion of its website.
“We acknowledge that the language on the website was not clear and have made the change to clarify it,” Lasry campaign spokesman Thad Nation said.
The original language said that Lasry “led negotiations for a historic project labor agreement that included provisions to hire women and minorities that are often underrepresented among union workers. He also included a $15 minimum wage for all arena workers once Fiserv was built.”
The new language includes the same wording on Lasry’s effort in the negotiations but clarifies the minimum wage issue.
“The Bucks also included an agreement to implement a $15 minimum wage for Fiserv Forum workers no later than 2023,” the website said. “The Bucks achieved this goal early, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2020.”
The website changes came after a report on the website Urban Milwaukee, with the headline: “Lasry Misleads Voters on Minimum Wage.”
The $15 an hour claim was also used in several fundraising emails.
The head of the union that negotiated the deal with the Bucks didn’t take issue with the Lasry campaign’s use of the wage issue.
Peter Rickman, president of the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization (MASH), outlined the efforts that led to the deal.
Rickman said in late 2015 and into early 2016, the Bucks and the union’s predecessor organization, the Alliance for Good Jobs, “negotiated a community benefits agreement that included the path to unionization for arena workers as well as a minimum wage that phased to $15 an hour by 2023.”
Rickman said he and Bucks president Peter Feigin “negotiated the original community benefits agreement. Alex was involved here and there.”
In an interview, Feigin said: “Alex was instrumental in every chapter of the concept and development and execution of the agreement and in the end Peter Rickman and I signed the agreement together. Alex was very engaged.”
Rickman said the union contract “delivered a $15 an hour minimum in 2020.”
The union and the Bucks reached the tentative agreement in January 2020, with the deal finalized in March 2020. The contract went into effect in July 2020, just days before what was to be the start of an in-person Democratic National Convention.
The convention ended up being mostly virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic.
There is a probationary period for newly hired workers, who make $14 an hour, Rickman said.
“As someone who literally spends every waking moment of the day in fighting for wages for working class people, I will tell you I don’t think that’s a knock on the Bucks,” Rickman said.
Lasry was recently endorsed by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 18, the union representing Fiserv Forum stagehands. The union reached an agreement with the facility in June 2019.
“Alex put that team together to bargain,” said Craig Carlson, IATSE vice president. “They were fair and they were honest. We have a great rapport.”
Lasry is among five Democrats officially entered in next year’s race. Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has not said if he’ll run next year.