Michigan GOP starts gutting $12 per hour minimum wage, paid sick time laws

https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2018/11/28/michigan-gop-starts-gutting-12-per-hour-minimum-wage-paid-sick-time-laws

Posted By Tom Perkins on Wed, Nov 28, 2018 at 10:57 AM

In a gift to the state's corporations and rich, Michigan Republicans on Wednesday started the process of gutting new, separate laws that would raise Michigan's minimum wage to $12 per hour and mandate paid sick time for the state's workers.

The GOP-led Senate this afternoon approved significant changes to the citizen-initiated laws in a party-line vote. The House will likely take up the issue next week.

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What makes the changes extra dirty is the manner in which Republicans are going about it. Throughout 2018, citizen-led groups gathered signatures to put proposals for paid sick time and increased minimum wage on the Nov. 6 ballot.

The proposals are popular with state's residents and were likely to pass. But Republicans made them law in September, which kept them off the Nov. 6 ballot. However, the GOP made sure that the laws didn't go into effect until March so they could gut them during the lame duck session, which started today.

There's nothing that the Democratic minority in the state legislature can do to stop Republicans, however, the move may violate the state's constitution.

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It's also worth noting that the GOP lost the popular vote in the state House in 2014 and 2018, and only won by 3,000 votes in 2016. Still, it currently holds a 63-47 majority, because Republicans gerrymandered the state's legislative districts. So, arguably, a government that the majority of people didn't want is killing a raise and paid sick time for low income Michiganders.