Democratic legislators condemn House GOP passage of anti-worker bills, blocking minimum wage increases

LANSING, Mich., Jan. 23, 2025 — Michigan House Republicans recently voted legislation out of the House that strips away minimum wage increases and worsens earned sick leave policies for millions of Michigan workers. House Democrats introduced a combined 13 amendments to the package to keep increased wages and earned sick leave, improving the bills for workers — all of which House Republicans voted to not adopt.

“Workers are the backbone of Michigan — they need and deserve livable wages and earned sick time policies that prioritize and support them and their families,” said state Rep. Phil Skaggs (D-East Grand Rapids).

Skaggs added: “These bills harm our minimum wage workers, servers and bartenders who show up for our state every single day. I am disappointed in my colleagues across the aisle for pushing policy forward that will block thousands of Michiganders from being lifted out of poverty, lower the minimum wage and take away paid sick time from over one million workers.”

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled in July that the Republican-led Legislature’s adopting and then subsequently amending of a 2018 citizen initiative to phase out the state’s minimum and tipped wage during the same legislative session was unconstitutional. House Bills 4001 and 4002 halt the original intent of this petition from taking effect next month, decreasing the minimum wage for Michigan workers and their families and reducing the amount of paid sick leave businesses are required to provide.

“Parents should never have to worry about whether they’re losing out on income because they need to take a day of leave for their sick child,” said State Rep. Tonya Myers Phillips (D-Detroit).

Phillips added: “The amendments we introduced were crucial to ensuring workers across the state can keep food on the table and take care of themselves and their loved ones when they are sick. These were commonsense measures to ensure Michiganders are treated with dignity, and it is shameful that House Republicans struck them down.”

Some amendments to the package that House Democrats introduced would phase out the tipped wage credit over the course of 10 years and require restaurants to supplement the pay of their waitstaff to the minimum wage amount, calculated on a daily basis, when their tips plus the tipped wage do not reach the minimum wage.

“Our amendments were built on facts, and mine would have ensured that no one does a day’s work without a day’s worth of livable pay,” said Sate Rep. Matt Koleszar (D-Plymouth).

House Democrats also proposed amendments to secure earned sick leave for all workers, which would ensure eligible employees can take days off to care for themselves and their loved ones. After refusing to adopt the amendments, House Republicans unanimously voted for anti-worker bills that decrease those benefits.

“The first two bills to move through the House this session will reduce the minimum wage increase workers were planning on receiving next month and exempt 96% of employers in Michigan from providing earned sick leave for their employees,” said State Rep. Dr. Matt Longjohn (D-Portage).

Longjohn added: “While there are complex issues for many employers and workers associated with these bills, I could not vote for them and lived up to my closely held 25-year-old Oath to ‘do no harm.’”