Fighting for one fair wage

We’re pleased to feature this blog co-written by Christopher White, director of Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan and Monique Stanton, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy. A version of this column originally appeared in The Alpena News.

Christopher White

Monique Stanton

This past summer, our two organizations and many other partners across the state applauded the Michigan Supreme Court for ruling that the 2018 Michigan Legislature violated our state’s constitution. That year, the Legislature thwarted the will of the people when they blocked popular proposals on minimum wage and earned paid sick time—which were polling at over a 70% approval rating—from appearing on the ballot. They instead adopted the proposals and then significantly altered them in the lame-duck session, which followed the November election that year, in what has been referred to as an adopt-and-amend scheme. 

With the Michigan Supreme Court’s recent ruling, an injustice has been rectified and hard-working Michiganders stand to benefit from what the original proposals had intended to do:  lift up workers and families struggling to get by. The minimum wage is now slated to be raised to $12.48 next February, up from $10.33, and should reach almost $15 by 2028. Tipped wages will also increase over the next couple years until tipped workers make the actual minimum wage on top of their tips. Additionally, employers will be required to provide their employees either 40 or 72 hours of paid sick time each year, depending on the number of workers they employ.

These are all major wins that will result in stronger economic security for workers and families, while, in turn, increasing the amount of money spent in the local communities where they live. Ensuring employers provide sufficient paid sick time will also result in better health outcomes and better job protections when workers get sick.

Roquesha O’Neal, a restaurant worker in Detroit, said it best just after the Supreme Court’s decision came down: “This victory truly belongs to restaurant workers and other Michigan workers, like me, who mainly depend on our jobs and paychecks to make ends meet. By working for jobs that offer meager pay and yet continuing to contribute to the economic vibrancy of our state, our sacrifices have paid off. I have never been more hopeful than I am today that I will have a higher paycheck, better protection when I get sick and a much brighter tomorrow.”

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court’s decision has not come without contention, with some individuals, organizations and business owners pushing back on the ruling and engaging in the practice of fear mongering, especially with tipped employees. They have disingenuously implied that if the tipped minimum wage is brought above the subminimum level, which is currently just $3.93 an hour, customers will tip less, resulting in lower pay.

But states that have boosted their tipped minimum wage are seeing the opposite. In fact, according to the Center for American Progress, tipped workers in the states that have already established one fair minimum wage have done as well as or better than their counterparts in states that still have tipped minimum wages, likely due in part to the fact that the vast majority of customers are continuing to tip based on service and they are making more in base pay. 

Establishing one fair minimum wage will be especially important for tipped workers here in Michigan who are currently not making good money in tips because they work for smaller employers with slower shifts. These workers are walking away from jobs with very little money in their pockets right now and they deserve to make a more livable wage. 

The current wage gaps for women in our country and state also point to the critical importance of raising the minimum and tipped wages. The National Partnership for Women & Families recently released an informative fact sheet that shows that, for the first time in 20 years, the gender wage gap in the U.S. has widened and that women were typically paid 75 cents for every dollar that men were paid in 2023, adding up to a $14,170 difference last year. The fact sheet also shows that gender wage gaps are widest for women of color in the U.S. and that Michigan has the 10th widest gender wage gap in the country at 30 cents per dollar.

The proof is in the data: we need to do more to ensure all people are paid fairly and are able to equally participate in our economy. Increasing the minimum and tipped wages, not just here in Michigan, but across the country, is one important way to accomplish that, especially for women—particularly women of color—who are overrepresented in low-paid work.

Here at the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) of Michigan and the Michigan League for Public Policy we continue to celebrate the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision, which has restored the will of the people after six long years of hard work and advocacy. We look forward to the changes ahead and what they will mean for workers and families here in Michigan. 

ROC of Michigan is a large and active chapter of ROC United that works to advance the interests of restaurant workers. ROC of Michigan currently supports 200 restaurants and 6,000 workers and members across the state.

The Michigan League for Public Policy uses data to educate, advocate and fight for policy solutions that undo historic and systemic racial and economic inequities to lift up Michiganders who have been left out of prosperity.