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POTUS stumps in Michigan for minimum wage hike

Melanie Kruvelis
/
Michigan Radio

ANN ARBOR, MI (MPRN)--   President Obama made a stop in Michigan Wednesday to call for an increase in the federal minimum wage. He also endorsed a petition campaign to raise the Michigan minimum wage. 

The President made a stop at Zingerman’s, an Ann Arbor deli known for its generous wages and its pricey-but-popular sandwiches. Afterwards, he told a crowd at the University of Michigan that boosting wages would also help boost the economy.             

“Fair wages and higher profits are not mutually exclusive. They can go hand in hand,” he said.

“We believe our economy grows best not from the top down, but from the middle up and the bottom up. And we want to make sure that no matter where you’re born, what circumstances, how you started out, what you look like, what you’re last name is, who you love, it doesn’t matter. You can succeed. That’s what we believe.”

The shout-out to legalized marriage between same-sex couples drew instant cheers from the crowd that packed a University of Michigan gymnasium.

But the focus of the address was economic fairness and the effort to raise the minimum wage.

The President has proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. The President also endorsed a petition drive in Michigan to increase the state minimum wage. That campaign would put the question to the Legislature, and possibly on the November ballot.

President Obama’s visit comes as groups in Michigan are pushing to raise the state’s minimum wage. Those groups were out in full force Wednesday to cheer on the president. 

The Raise Michigan coalition hopes to put a question on the November ballot if it’s not adopted by the Legislature. The initiative would raise the state minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2017 and then tie it to inflation after that. 

But unlike the president’s plan to raise the federal minimum wage, Raise Michigan’s proposal would also eventually require businesses to pay tipped workers no less than the full $10.10 an hour. 

“We’re hitting the streets,” said Frank Houston, the coalition’s treasurer. “We’re getting tens of thousands of petitions a week. We fully expect to qualify with collecting our 258,000 petitions that are valid by the end of May. And we just got to keep talking to people, keep getting petitions, and keep raising money – and we’ll get it done.” 

Donyetta Hill of Detroit was also in the crowd. She says she has worked minimum wage jobs, and is now collecting signatures to put the plan on the November ballot. 

“Because after I pay rent, meaning $600 a month, I have no money left over for DTE (Energy), and they’re not going to accept partial payments,” said Hill. “So, alright, I can’t even raise my kids. I work so much, when do I have time to raise my child?”

Republican leaders in the state Legislature say they have no interest in raising the state’s minimum wage. They say wages will rise on their own as the economy improves. Business groups say a minimum wage hike would tamp down hiring, raise prices, and slow the economic recovery.