Michigan Senate Republicans have renewed their call on Democrats to get to work addressing the state’s minimum wage law following a July court ruling that will require tipped restaurant workers to be paid the same minimum wage as other workers.
State Senator Aric Nesbitt tells us Republicans held a press conference Wednesday and asked why Democrats didn’t show up for a scheduled session.
“They had it scheduled and there was no attendance, no voting,” Nesbitt said. “So, Senate Republicans, we showed up today showing that we were ready to get to work and sit down and let’s hammer out a deal to save 50,000 restaurant jobs.”
Nesbitt says he’s been told by restaurants in Southwest Michigan they won’t be able to compete if they have to pay their servers the standard minimum wage. He’s also been told by servers they don’t want the new minimum wage because they earn more from their tips.
“I’m hearing stories in my district that restaurants that survived COVID, survived the shutdown, survived the Great Recession of years ago, are really challenging on whether or not just to put up the Closed sign next year.”
Nesbitt says there is still time to restore the tip credit and avoid the changes. However, he says Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Democratic legislative leaders have been silent on the issue.
Save MI Tips, a group opposed to the coming changes, also held a rally in Lansing Wednesday.
