More than 14-hundred restaurant locations around Michigan were surveyed to see how their businesses would fair under a pair of potential ballot proposals.
The proposals would raise minimum wage to 12 dollars an hour by 2022, and allow workers to earn sick time.
Nearly 90 percent of Michigan restaurant owners said raising minimum wage or allowing workers to earn up to 72 hours of paid leave would negatively impact their businesses.
Justin Winslow is President and CEO of the Michigan Restaurant Association, the organization that conducted the survey.
“Over 80 percent of them would be raising menu prices, nearly two-thirds of them would be laying off staff and I think that should be troubling when you think of this industry as employing over 440,000 people in the state if two-thirds of them are laying off staff that’s a sizable impact to Michigan’s economy overall.”
Supporters of the change say similar initiatives have worked in other states. They say higher wages make for a more stable workforce and in some cases servers have seen higher tips.
Darci McConnell is the campaign manager for the One Fair Wage Michigan campaign, which supports the wage increase.
“The tips actually have gotten higher according to our study, but also you have lower turnover you have more stability in the workforce so we know that this model actually has worked in other states; and then we also have a number of restaurants who have signed on in support of our campaign for those same reasons.”
The proposals are currently moving through the approval process for the November ballot, most recently facing a challenge from a group calling itself Michigan Opportunity.