After months of organizing petition drives, the Raise the Wage Coalition at the University and similar organizations across the state are finally starting to see results in Lansing.
Michigan workers making the state’s minimum wage would get a raise of $1.80 an hour later this year under legislation passed unanimously yesterday by the state Senate.
The minimum wage is now $5.15 an hour. Under the Senate-approved bill, the wage would go to $6.95 in October and gradually increase to $7.40 an hour by July 2008.
If passed by the Republican-controlled House and signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the wage hike would be the first in nine years.
RC senior and Raise the Wage Coalition member Ryan Bates was wary of the Senate’s motives.
“It is unclear at this time whether this is a legitimate move to raise the minimum wage or just another parliamentary procedure,” he said.
The surprise vote is a response to a state-wide petition drive to raise the minimum wage in the state constitution.
The student coalition, part of a state-wide minimum-wage campaign, has been actively soliciting signatures at the University since February. The Michigan Student Assembly passed a resolution supporting of the measure in January.
Signature collection on the Diag will continue at least for now, Bates said.
Last month, MSA held a panel discussion on the initiative. Students and others on both sides of the debate participated.
Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming) noted that the state has not had a raise in the minimum wage in nine years. He said there are positives and negatives for raising the wage.
“But all in all, I think it’s the right thing to do at the right time,” Sikkema said yesterday on the Senate floor.
Democrats pushing the ballot measure had hoped it would bring more Democrats to the polls in November, something Republicans would like to avoid.
“It’s a factor in the decision making – there’s no question about it,” Sikkema said of the petition drive.
The Senate-approved bill initially would raise the wage more than the petition drive would, but it would not put the language in the state constitution, meaning the increase could be repealed in the future. If voters approved raising the minimum wage in the state constitution, it would take another statewide vote to repeal the increase.
The bill doesn’t link the minimum wage to inflationary increases, something the ballot measure would do. Republicans criticized that tie, and Sikkema said that was one reason he decided to move the bill.
Michigan’s $5.15-per-hour minimum wage is the same as the federal government’s. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have higher minimum wages.
The vote drew a mixed response from interest groups.
“I think it’s good that the Senate is finally moving on a bill,” said John Freeman, executive director of the Michigan Needs a Raise Coalition.
“We certainly support the bill,” he said. “It’s certainly better than their earlier position, which was not to address the issue.”
But he was not optimistic about the bill’s prospects.
“It still has to pass the House,” he said. “The House has been a little bit more conservative than the Senate.”
The Michigan Restaurant Association said raising the minimum wage would kill jobs but added that it’s better to do it with legislation than by amending the constitution.
The Michigan Catholic Conference applauded the Senate vote.
“Work is more than just a job, it is a reflection of our human dignity and a way to contribute to the common good,” Paul Long, the group’s vice president for public policy, said in a statement.
Senate Democrats first introduced the bill to increase the minimum wage in March 2005, but their efforts to raise wages were largely ignored by Republicans who control the chamber.
– Daily Staff Reporter Andrew Grossman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.