Recently Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Mark Schauer announced that he feels the minimum wage in Michigan should be raised to $9.25 an hour and, if elected, he intended to see that legislation passed.

With unemployment hovering at 9 percent here in Michigan minimum wage jobs are no longer just for teenagers and thousands of families are trying to survive on our state’s current minimum wage of $7.40 an hour.

A recent Gallup poll found that overall 76 percent of Americans would like to see a rise in the wage and 58 percent of Republicans would also support an increase. Enhancing the minimum wage would help economically depressed families keep up with inflation and help boost our struggling economy by creating more demand.

Another recent poll, conducted by the Washington Post found that 80 percent of low income workers here in America fear that they will not be able to pay their bills at the current national rate of $7.25 per hour.

In order to fix our economy we have to give people the ability to pay for the basic necessities of life such as electricity and gas to get back and forth to work.

If the GOP were really serious about trickle down economics they would support a raise and force corporate America to give up some of those record-breaking profits they have been making the last few years.

But it has been made clear by GOP think tank groups such as the Mackinac Center here in Michigan that not only is an increase unacceptable, minimum wage needs to be repealed altogether leaving millions of Americans at the mercy of a struggling economy and in jeopardy of being victimized by corporate America who are not going to pay anyone a dime more than they are forced to.

According to a recent Democratic poll 70 percent of Michigan residents support raising the wage and if it were passed more than 1 million workers in our state would see a raise in pay and morally it is the right thing to do.

No one who is willing to work full time should be living in poverty. But Republican politicians will never jeopardize their campaign funding from large donors nor support an increase as long as they are in corporate America’s pocket.

Their failure to approve this legislation just demonstrates the GOP’s callous attitude towards the impoverished of this nation and an unwillingness to help struggling families.

 

William Crandell is a community activist and member of the Michigan Education Association and the Michigan Democratic Party. He is also a member of the South County Democratic Club where he has served as their communications director and as the chairperson of the SCDC Blue Tiger Community Action Committee.