LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – Michigan’s Supreme Court is set to release a decision on a case that could raise the state’s minimum wage to a universal $12 an hour and eliminate the tipped wage system in the state.
The Michigan Court of Claims found that changes made by the state legislature to a 2018 ballot initiative to raise wages were unconstitutional, but that decision was reversed upon appeal and now waits for a final decision from the Michigan Supreme Court.
With cost of living and wages a top concern for voters heading into elections this fall, advocates are pushing lawmakers to act before voters do.
A ballot initiative has collected enough signatures to appear on the ballot this fall. It would be the third of its kind to attempt to raise the minimum wage, to $15 an hour this time, and eliminate tipped wages since 2014.
The 2018 ballot initiative originally would have set a schedule to raise the minimum wage and eliminate tipped wages, but it was taken off the ballot and adopted by the state legislature and amended. The changes to the proposal pushed back the original date for a $12 an-hour universal minimum wage from 2022 to 2030 and kept the adjusted tipped wages at just $3.93.
If the Michigan Supreme Court rules to reverse the changes made to the 2018 initiative, the $12 universal wage would be instituted, but advocates with One Fair Wage (OFW) are pushing for lawmakers to create legislation to raise it to $15 and get ahead of this year’s ballot initiative that would do the same.
OFW’s President, Saru Jayaraman, said that the initiative has gained enough signatures to be instituted as a proposal on this fall’s ballot, but that voters are likely to show up to vote themselves a rise without voting for anything else.
“You are seeing the most acute staffing crisis in the restaurant industry and across multiple low-wage sectors because workers are no longer able to work for a wage that is less than the cost of a gallon of gas here in Michigan,” Jayaraman said. “The only question is: will the legislature leave the wage at $12? Or because we’ve already collected 610,000 signatures to actually raise it even further to $15 on this November’s ballot, will the legislature just do the right thing and make it $15.”
Similar efforts have failed in the state legislature before, Jayaraman says it will depend on the Democratic majority to pass any legislation introduced this time around.
