$12 An Hour Minimum Wage Sought By Michigan Ballot Drive

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Supporters of raising Michigan's minimum wage to $12 an hour are launching a 2018 ballot drive.

Michigan's hourly minimum is $8.90 and rises to $9.25 in January. Under the proposed ballot measure, workers would make $12 per hour starting in 2022.

The wage would rise to $10 in 2019, $10.65 in 2020 and $11.35 in 2021. Tipped workers would make the same minimum as other employees by 2024.

Organizers need roughly 252,000 valid voter signatures to put the initiated law before lawmakers and potentially voters.

The last time labor organizers began collecting signatures for a higher minimum wage, in 2014, Republican legislators and Gov. Rick Snyder approved a smaller minimum wage boost to head off the ballot initiative.

*Copyright 2017, Associated Press.