Mich. Gov. Signs Minimum Wage Increase

[Judi Lynn]

Mich. Gov. Signs Minimum Wage Increase

Tuesday March 28, 2006 6:01 PM


LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Workers earning the minimum wage in Michigan will get a raise in October under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

The minimum rate will climb from $5.15 an hour to $6.95 an hour, then to $7.15 an hour in July 2007 and to $7.40 an hour in July 2008.

Michigan's current hourly minimum rate matches the federal minimum wage. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia set minimum wages higher than the federal minimum, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Michigan's Republican-dominated Legislature passed the minimum wage increase this month after it became evident that a petition drive to put the issue before voters in November was likely to succeed.
(snip/...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5716502,00.html

[sasquatch]

1. Good for them

[donsu]

2. wonderful

nt

[RedEarth]

3. My God... doesn't he know that will drive all companies to China

....folks, I hope you know I'm being sarcastic.

[JusticeForAll]

5. I think you mean 'she'

Gov. Jennifer Granholm

[Greeby]

4. Damn those Canadians and their wimpy social programs

Don't they know wage increases hurt Amurika? :sarcasm:

[UrbScotty]

6. Great news!

Thank you, Governor Granholm!

[Zhade]

7. Kind of. Wasn't this passed to avoid the amendment...

...that would have tied wages to inflation?

This is a band-aid. A necessary one, but not a total solution.

[Beaverhausen]

9. Too bad she was born in Canada

She impressed me so much at Rosa Parks funeral. She'd be a shoe-in for President if she could run!

This minimum wage increase is great.

[skipos]

8. Hopefully this will help her poll numbers

Rasmussen has her neck and neck with Devos (R).

[UrbScotty]

11. I heard about that

I'll be putting something about that in my journal later on.

[LostinVA]

10. It should nationally be more like $13/hr., but good for her

[WestMichRad]

12. This is the result of dirty politics from the MI Rethugs

Gov. Granholm had no real choice but to sign the bill, because to veto it would have been political suicide in November, when she is seeking re-election. The situation is that, after years of foot-dragging on the minimum wage issue by the Rethug-controlled legislature, a grass-roots initiative seeking to put it on this fall's election ballot had overwhelming support. The Rethugs, knowing full well it would bring dem voters to the polls in droves, quickly slapped together this bill to circumvent that prospect.

Further, and most despiccably, this differs slightly from the provisions of the ballot initiative. If the iniative passes, it will result in a temporary ROLL-BACK of the min wage by $0.10 per hour, then future hikes that would be more generous to low-wage workers than the legislation that has passed. So they will campaign against the Dems in the fall by saying that to support the ballot initiative will decrease the minimum wage. The effect will be to suppress Dem-leaning turnout this fall in Michigan.

A slick political move, perhaps, but truly reprehensible tactics, in my opinion, holding lower earning voters hostage in the process.

Don't expect Dems to make any gains in MI this fall - and Granholm will be lucky to survive for another term, since the Rethugs will do everything they can to pin the state's economic slump on her (despite the fact that they've refused to support her on virtually any economic program that she has proposed.