Michigan lawmakers reached a last-minute agreement to resolve a seven-year fight over the minimum wage and tipped pay, but the deal was made 12 hours late, and activists who supported them are demanding restitution for those affected.
The new law bumps up to minimum wage and tip earners’ base pay from $4.01 per hour to $4.74 per hour, and gets to 50% of the state’s minimum wage by 2031. Meanwhile the minimum wage for non-tipped workers will go up from $10.56 to $12.48 and to $15 by 2027. The resolution blocks the immediate removal of subminimum wages, the central battle ground of the fight.
One Fair Wage, an advocacy organization, argues that since the original law was reimplemented for a half a day before the new compromise was signed, workers are entitled to that higher pay during this time. Victim workers who started working from midnight legally belong to receive higher wages, the group pointed out, offering legal aid. 
Labour costs passed on to consumers, warn employers – with restaurant owners such as Paul Andoni saying they will have to charge more to customers. At the same time, however, tipped workers are split, with some fearing lower tips if wages are raised.
The Michigan ruling reflects a national push-pull on tipped wages, one that has states unraveling through complicated compromises as Washington sits in neutral. As legislators and activists fight, the future of subminimum wages hangs in balance.
