The campaign to raise Michigan’s minimum wage will begin collecting signatures.
As we hear from The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta, a state board gave the petition campaign the OK to go ahead.
The board said the petition complies with the law, and now the campaign has until mid-May to collect 258,000 valid signatures. That would put the question to the Legislature. If lawmakers don’t adopt it, then it would go on the November ballot.
Frank Houston is with the “Raise Michigan” campaign.
“We think it’s essential that working people who are working hard to stay out of poverty truly have a fighting chance to do so,” he says. “It gives them a fair opportunity to work their way into the middle class.”
Houston’s group wants to gradually raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2017. It would also end the exemption that allows employers to pay less to workers who earn tips. Business groups oppose the drive. They say it will tamp down hiring.