Workers to get 44% bump in pay (Dems threaten Constit Amendment)

I just received my daily mail. My AFT Michigan newsletter includes a blank petition entitled Initiative Petition Amendment to the Constitution (Increased Minimum Wage And Annual Cost Of Living Adjustment).

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006603100431

Workers to get 44% bump in pay

$7.40 minimum passes Michigan Senate to surprise, praise

BY DAWSON BELL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

March 10, 2006



LANSING -- Michigan would have one of the nation's most generous minimum wage laws under legislation that came out of nowhere Thursday and appears headed straight for Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who said she'll sign it.

The state Senate approved the measure unanimously Thursday morning, authorizing a 44% boost over the next two years from $5.15 an hour to $7.40 in July 2008. Most of the increase would come Oct. 1 this year, when the base wage would jump to $6.95 an hour.

Majority Republicans in the Senate surprised supporters and opponents of the wage hike when they proposed -- without advance notice -- the increase, and quickly brought it up for a vote.

Several business groups long opposed to hikes in the minimum wage expressed tentative support, saying it was better than a proposal from Democrats to put the issue before voters as a state constitutional amendment.

more...

the ballots!

They're doing it in Ohio, Arkansas, Coloorado, and a couple other states.

is that the repubs in control of ohio just tried to earmark a raise in the stat minimum wage to the current federal rate
in order to take some press out of the dems going for a bigger raise.


http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1141897206231690.xml?nohio&coll=2

about time the wages moved up from a level that would have meant poverty decades ago.

Workers get a raise a month before Graholm stands for re-election. Nice play. A candidate for Bill Scneider's Poltiical Play of the Week.

The re-thugs in the Michigan Senate hurried to pass this because the petition drive being pushed by Granholm, Unions, and the state Democratic party tied the minimum wage to the inflation rate and has severe monetary costs to any employer who did not comply. The governor still supports the petition drive ballot proposal but will sign this if it comes to her desk. Granholm, Unions, and state Democrats made this happen. The petition drive ballot proposal was favored 4 to 1 polling shows. The issue also caused the re-thugs to fear a big Democratic turn out on this issue. It is not a done deal yet, as the state house still has to pass it. Thanks to all who made this happen, it is good for Michigan. Oh, there willl be a big Democratic turn out anyway, count on it!

the dems want to make it a constitutional amendment because "it would take another statewide vote to repeal the increase..."

the only reason the Republican controlled state legislature passed this is because there is a ballot measure for this November that would not only raise the minimum wage, but put in our state constitution an amendment that would tie wages with inflation, thus ensuring that the minimum wage would continue to increase.

If they hadn't passed this bill, that amendment would have been on teh November ballot and the voters would have most definitely passed it, securing a long-term solution to the minimum wage problem.

By passing this, they are just trying to thwart that effort.

But considering what we've had to settle for and call victory in the past five years, it looks pretty good. The minimum wage gets a long overdue bump, and the petition drive continues to go forward. Whether this takes the wind out of the sails for the petition drive or not has yet to be seen, but the legislation is moving through the Michigan legislature and headed for a sure signature from the governor and will therefore take effect much sooner than an initiative petition on the November ballot would.

Hard to paint this as anything but a victory for progressives. But you can bet your bottom dollar that someone at DU will bitch about anything.

It makes me a bit nervous to see everyone acclaim this. Is there *really* no downside? I'm opinion-neutral here...but no major shift in costs comes without other effects.

Michigan's Single Business Tax has suppressed business location here for a long time. (Every business pays 1% of gross revenues - not just profits.) I don't think "the nation's most generous" MWL is going to cause employers to flock here, and Michigan's unemployment rate is already among the nation's worst.

Seems to me that employers will respond by cutting the number of minimum wage people they employ, and making those they keep do more. Is fewer workers making more money a net good? I can see the other side of this argument too, but that looks pretty well covered already here in this thread.

Peace.

How'd they ever get stuck with a domain name like that?

:)

I think it's around 7.60 or so.

I'm proud to live in a blue state with a Dem woman for governor.

She's a really good governor, especially considering how the House and Senate are entirely controlled by the right wing.

see demopedia, page Capital, for source links.. fed reserve source

we can afford a decent min wage.

:toast:

I like your sig line. ;-)

other than high school kids, earn such low wages?

You can't possibly be this isolated from the reality of what most Americans endure.

know anyone other than kids who earn the minimum wage.

If you are suggesting that most Americans earn the minimum wage, it is you who is the one that is out of touch.

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