Here in Michigan a group of citizens under the "Raise Michigan" banner have been circulating a petition to put on the ballot a proposal to modify the state's minimum wage law to raise the wage to $10.10 an hour for tipped and non-tipped employees and then tie it to inflation. Having reached the necessary number of signatures, the measure was set to be on the ballot in November, with polling showing strong support. A bill to help working people, well supported by the public, on the ballot in November? Well Republicans won't stand for that. So the Senate GOP put together a bill to repeal the existing minimum wage law and then replace it with an identical law, save that it would raise the wage from 7.40 to 8.15. For non-tipped employees. This would be done not to help families, but to kill the initiative, which would now modify an existing law.
Thankfully, the Senate Democrats were having none of this. Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer spearheaded a proposal that would instead raise the wage to 9.40 for non-tipped employees, and then tie it to inflation. It isn't perfect, but at least this will mean something for working people. This bill passed the Senate an hour ago.
At the same time, the Michigan GOP's disdain for democracy continues unabated. Between emergency managers, their restrictions on the citizen's veto, voter id proposals, signature collecting requirements, etc. there can be no doubt that the Michigan Republican party isn't just opposed to big D Democrats, but to little d democracy. We must kick every one of them out in November.
More here:http://www.mlive.com/...