Very sad to report, but without the efforts of all of us who signed and distributed petitions and the leadership of the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), Michigan workers would not have gotten any raise at all: Group pushing $10.10 minimum wage ends ballot fight By Kathleen Gray Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau LANSING — The group Raise Michigan will not appeal a ruling by the State Board of Canvassers that is keeping the proposal to raise the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 per hour off the ballot. “We have determined that our efforts to ensure that everyone who works full-time makes a decent wage are better fought outside of the courtroom,” said Frank Houston of the Raise Michigan Coalition. “From the beginning of our campaign, we faced numerous attacks from restaurant industry lobbyists and legislative leaders hell-bent on defeating us — not at the ballot box, but by any means necessary.” The State Board of Canvassers ruled last week that the group fell about 4,000 valid signatures short to qualify for the ballot. Raise Michigan argued that the group opposing the measure turned in its challenge of the signatures nearly two weeks after the deadline to challenge the signatures. Raise Michigan had proposed gradually raising the wage to $10.10 per hour for all workers, including tipped employees like bartenders and waitresses. The Michigan Restaurant Association vehemently objected to the inclusion of tipped employees, claiming it would force some restaurants to close. So the Legislature passed a law, raising the wage from $7.40 per hour to $9.25, and from $2.65 to $3.52 per hour for tipped employees. The law also repealed the old minimum wage law, which could have circumvented the Raise Michigan proposal because it was seeking to amend the old law, which no longer existed after the legislative action. Houston said the group’s efforts helped make Michigan one of the first states this year to increase its minimum wage. “This phase of our quest for fair wages for all workers may be coming to a close, but the fight is certainly not over,” he said in a statement released Friday. “This issue is gaining steam across the country with victories at the ballot box and in the halls of state legislatures.”
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 13:20:31 +0000
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