State Rep. Jamie Thompson joined her House Republican colleagues last week in standing up for service industry workers who will be harshly impacted in the new year if legislative action is not taken.

Thompson was at American Coney Island in Detroit on Thursday, Dec. 19 underscoring the pending elimination of the tipped wage and unrealistic mandates that will be put on job providers in February due a Michigan Supreme Court decision from this summer.

Surveys paint a grim picture of the fallout of that ruling. Two-thirds of restaurant operators in Michigan expect they’ll have to lay off staff, 94% say they’d have to raise menu prices on people who go out to support small businesses in their community, and one in five full-service restaurants are projected to close permanently.

“Instead of listening to our state’s workers – especially bartenders and servers – who have said loud and clear that they’ll be out of work if this goes into effect, Democrats in the Legislature have continued to focus on an extreme agenda that resembles a DNC wish list more than what the people of Michigan actually want,” said Thompson, of Brownstown. “Families Downriver depend on tips they get within these jobs. I raised my kids on the tips I made at my local Coney Island in nursing school. It stuns me that Democrats are pretending this isn’t a problem and won’t pursue solutions when so many livelihoods are at risk.”

Thompson highlighted a bipartisan plan currently in the Legislature – House Bills 6056-57 – that strikes a careful balance going forward by fostering economic growth while looking out for workers. It protects the tip credit that allows many workers to make more than they would through a minimum wage and gradually raises the minimum wage in ways that won’t force local job providers to close.

“A higher wage and more time off through sick leave doesn’t make a difference if the job set to get those benefits no longer exists,” Thompson said. “That’s what we’re looking at in a few months. House Republicans are standing ready to negotiate on this so we can protect hardworking people and save our small businesses. Democrats should stand with us instead of turning their backs on our local job providers and their workers.”