This post was written and reported by freelance contributor Dawn R. Wolfe through our Daily Kos freelance program.
In a move that even one Republican state senator says subverts the will of more than a quarter-million people, Michigan's Republican-led legislature voted this month to keep two popular employment-related proposals off this November's ballot. Instead, the state legislature voted in early September to adopt two proposals that would raise Michigan's minimum wage and require most employers to allow employees to earn paid sick time. But the effort wasn't an altruistic one. Instead, by passing the proposals themselves, the Republican majority ensured that a simple party-line vote will be all that's necessary to amend or completely gut both proposals.
The One Fair Wage campaign submitted more than 370,000 signatures to qualify its proposal for the ballot, and MI Time to Care turned in over 380,000. The One Fair Wage proposal would raise Michigan's minimum wage to $12 per hour by 2022 and, for the first time, mandate that tipped employees also receive the state minimum. Michigan's current minimum wage is $9.25 per hour, and the minimum for tipped workers is $3.52. MI Time to Care's proposal would require employers to provide one hour of paid time off for every 30 hours worked.
If voters had approved the proposals this November, it would have taken a two-thirds legislative majority to change them.
Both proposals are opposed by business groups including the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, and Michigan's Republican leadership is falling right in line. While they're refusing to spell out what might be in store for the new laws between November and the new year, Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof told the Detroit Free Press earlier this month that he and his colleagues are considering “a whole suite of things” that, in their opinion, would be “more friendly to Michigan.”
The move may be friendly to Michigan's wealthy special interest groups, but Democratic leaders and spokespeople for both ballot campaigns say that Michigan's Republican leadership is actually subverting democracy.
A spokesperson for MI Time to Care told Daily Kos that “special interests like the Michigan Chamber and Manufacturers Association were explicit in their desire to see the bills passed with the intention to later amend.” The spokesperson added that earned paid sick time isn't a partisan issue, but rather enjoys wide support among all voters, including Republicans.
In a recording provided to Daily Kos by his spokesperson, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich of Flint said that Michigan's Republican leadership is “attempting to circumvent the voters at every turn.”
“If I thought this (the two ballot proposals that were adopted) had a chance of going into effect I'd be the first one for it. But this is a scam for workers all across the state,” he said.
State Sen. Chris Hertel of East Lansing called the move “a direct attack on democracy” in a recent interview with Daily Kos, and added, “but that's nothing new.” Michigan's Republican leadership, Hertel said, “have a downright abusive relationship with democracy.”
State Democratic Party chair Brandon Dillon, who served as a state representative from 2011-2015, was even more direct. “As long as the DeVos (family) and other big Chamber of Commerce donors say so, they're (Michigan's Republican leadership) willing to do what it takes to undermine democracy,” he said. Dillon added that he's certain the only reason the Republican leadership adopted the two proposals was to keep them off the ballot and “gut them” in the lame-duck session, a move that may not be legal under Michigan's state constitution.
Even one Republican state legislator is on record agreeing that his party's efforts are an attempt to avoid having to submit to the will of the state's voters. According to the Washington Post, state Sen. Patrick Colbeck, who voted against adopting the two proposals, said that his fellow lawmakers “should have had the courage to take their fight to the voters and win in November.”
Instead, “we're playing procedural gimmicks,” he said.
Republican House Speaker Tom Leonard, on the other hand, explained his vote to adopt the bills by saying he feels both proposals, “are very poorly written.” Echoing accusations that legislative Republicans don’t trust the voters to make this choice, he added, “I personally wanted to make certain that (the) Legislature was still going to have a say.”
Pete Vargas of One Fair Wage said that the Republican strategy goes beyond his ballot proposal and extends to suppressing voter turnout in November. “I'm well aware of the legislature’s intent,” he said, “to suppress voter turnout among workers, poor Republicans and Democrats, people of color, and immigrants, and then to gut the legislation during the lame duck session.”
Vargas said that his organization is ready for both challenges. In addition to pursuing “intensive voter turnout activities” and doing everything in their power “to create electoral consequences for legislators who plan to gut” the One Fair Wage proposal, the organization plans to sue the legislature if the Republican leadership tries to amend the proposal after the November election.
“Doing so would violate the Michigan state constitution, which disallows the legislature from adopting a measure and then amending it in the same legislative session,” he said.
Dawn Wolfe is a freelance writer and journalist based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. If you ‘d like to help support more stories like this through our freelance program, contribute here.