Gov. Snyder Urged To “Stand With Workers” And Veto Gutting Of Minimum Wage

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By Doug Cunningham

One Fair Wage and its allies want Governor Snyder to veto the gutting of Michigan’s minimum wage legislation. They say undermining the minimum wage legislation is both unconstitutional and illegal.

When it became clear to Republicans in the state legislature that a minimum wage increase and an end to the tipped wage was likely to be approved by Michigan voters, the legislature passed that legislation. It was backed by hundreds of thousands of petition signers.

But in this lame duck session those same lawmakers have essentially gutted that legislation. One Fair Wage, the group that backed the original petition drive to raise the state minimum wage, says it was a cynical ploy by lawmakers out to thwart the will of the people in Michigan.

“By blatantly adopting it with the intention of amending it during the same legislative cycle to us is not just blatantly unconstitutional, but illegal,” the group’s Pete Vargas tells WSJM News.

Vargas says Governor Snyder can stand with the 1.2 million tipped wage workers struggling to make ends meet and with the hundreds of thousands who signed petitions to raise that minimum wage by vetoing what GOP lawmakers are doing now to gut it.

“I know he’s getting a lot of phone calls these days. And we can only hope that he would also want to respect the constitution and respect the process.”

One Fair Wage says the legislature’s minimum wage changes will “re-establish the sub-minimum wage, eliminate the cost of living increases to the minimum wage, take tips out of the hands of the hard working employees, and only increase their pay by $1.06 per hour by 2030.”