FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
May 13, 2014
Contact: Sam Inglot, 616-916-0574, sam@progressmichigan.org
Progress Michigan: Voters Want Their Voice to be Heard on Minimum Wage
Lawmakers cannot silence public support behind the effort to raise Michigan’s minimum wage
LANSING — Progress Michigan is calling on lawmakers to let the voters decide when it comes to raising the minimum wage. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville introduced a bill — SB934 — that sought to derail the Raise Michigan Coalition’s effort to raise the minimum wage to $10.10.
“The irony of this bill is that conservatives are always telling workers to pull themselves up by their bootstraps — and that’s what they’ve been doing with this campaign — but Senator Richardville and his Republican colleagues seem hell-bent on cutting those bootstraps,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “Conservatives in the legislature want to pull the rug out from under workers and volunteers just as the campaign is about to qualify for the November ballot. Their behavior is shameful and unbecoming of the people who have been entrusted with making important decisions for our state.”
This week, Progress Michigan launched an online petition telling lawmakers to let voters decide the minimum wage debate. In less than 24 hours the petition had over 1,400 signatures. Today, Progress Michigan asked Michiganders to write their lawmakers telling them to “Stop the gimmick! Let us vote!” By 2:30 p.m. over 530 voters had written their lawmakers.
“It’s clear that the public strongly supports a much-needed raise to the minimum wage,” Scott continued. “Voters have had enough of the political games that have been concocted by conservative lawmakers over the years. From the emergency manager law to wolf hunting it is time to stop the games and listen to the people.”
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