Campaign wants statewide vote on Michigan minimum wage for tipped workers
Lansing — A group in Michigan said it plans to gather petition signatures in the coming months to seek a statewide referendum on a law that scaled back increases in the minimum wage for workers who receive tips.
On Wednesday, the Bureau of Elections announced it will begin seeking public comment on summary language that will eventually appear on the petition sheets of the committee named Voters to Stop Pay Cuts. The group will need 223,099 valid signatures to put the law that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed on the ballot in November 2026.
"We’re mobilizing to ensure voters — not politicians — have the ultimate say in whether these protections are upheld," said Saru Jayaraman, president of the organization One Fair Wage.
The law targeted by the new campaign was the result of a compromise between Republicans and Democrats in the state Legislature after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled GOP lawmakers had unconstitutionally blocked two ballot proposals from taking effect in 2018.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2025/06/12/campaign-wants-statewide-vote-on-michigan-minimum-wage-tipped-workers/84163831007/