On Saturday, December 10, a coalition of groups in West Michigan gathered to kick-off their participation in the Michigan Minimum Wage Campaign. People from organized Labor, environmental, faith-based, and community groups came together, along with a few elected officials to announce the regional effort to get signatures that will put increasing the minimum wage in Michigan on the November 6 ballot.

They chose December 10 since it was International Human Rights Day and the group cited Article 23 from the United Nation Declaration of Human Rights to support the need for an increase in the minimum wage. This effort comes about since the Michigan legislature did not pass a bill that would increase the minimum wage by $2 an hour. A representative from the national group ACORN was present, as ACORN will be working on this campaign in Michigan in addition to other campaigns nationwide.

There are 2 meetings in early January for anyone interested in working on this campaign. The first meeting is on Wednesday, January 11 and will be an informational meeting for both the Minimum Wage campaign and the Civil Rights Initiative, which will also be on the November 2006 ballot. The later ballot initiative would eliminate current Affirmative Action laws in Michigan. This meeting is at 7:30pm in the Wealthy Theatre. The second meeting will be specifically for people who want to work on collecting signatures to put the Minimum Wage issue on the ballot. That meeting is at 5pm in the 2nd floor conference room at the Wealthy Theatre. For more information on the campaign contact Sue Levy SLevy@uaw.net.