A ballot campaign is organizing to give a pay raise to the roughly 90,000 Michigan workers who make the state minimum wage of $7.40 an hour.
The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta reports the campaign expects to file paperwork soon, and start a petition drive to put a question in front of voters in November.
The Raise Michigan coalition says it’s looking to boost the state minimum wage to somewhere between $9 and $10.10 an hour – and to index it to inflation. Tipped employees, such as restaurant servers, would also see a raise.
Frank Houston is the campaign treasurer. He says the coalition has been watching for action at the state or federal level to raise the minimum wage.
“Unfortunately, what we see is a lack of leadership out of Lansing as well as Congress to make sure that low-wage workers are getting a meaningful raise in the minimum wage in the near future,” he says.
Business groups say a minimum wage hike would discourage hiring. Democratic hopeful Mark Schauer wants to make it an issue in his campaign against Governor Rick Snyder.