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Madison -- A labor group Wednesday sought to use a little-known clause in state law to force Gov. Scott Walker to raise Wisconsin’s minimum wage.

The complaints filed by the liberal Wisconsin Jobs Now and 100 workers come a month and a half before the Nov. 4 election and are unlikely to succeed. Walker, a Republican, has opposed any increase in the state’s minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

Burke, his Democratic opponent, favors an increase.

The state law requires that Wisconsin’s minimum wage “shall not be less than a living wage.”

A living wage is defined under the law as “reasonable comfort, reasonable physical well-being, decency, and moral well-being.” But the governor’s administration is also allowed to consider the effect that increasing the minimum wage would have on the overall state economy and on the availability of entry-level jobs.

At a Capitol news conference Wednesday, workers and Wisconsin Jobs Now called on Walker’s labor department to investigate and determine that the living wage in the state should be set higher.

Britany Ferguson of Milwaukee, a hotel housekeeper with two children, cried as she described to reporters the “humiliating” experience of realizing at a grocery store checkout register that she didn't have enough money or food stamps to pay for all the food in her cart.

“My income is not enough to provide for myself and my family,” Ferguson said.

Under the law, the Walker administration has 20 days, or until Oct. 14, to respond to the complaint, according to the labor group.

Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said that Walker wanted jobs for state residents that pay “two or three times the minimum wage.”

“He is focused on finding ways to help employers create jobs that pay far more than the minimum wage or any other proposed minimum,” Patrick said. “The Department of Workforce Development will review the complaint to determine appropriate next steps.”

Workforce Development spokesman John Dipko confirmed that the agency’s Division of Equal Rights had received the complaints and would respond to them.

Walker and other Republicans say they oppose raising the minimum wage because many workers receiving it are teenagers and because increasing it would cause employers to eliminate jobs.