The elimination of tipped wages is causing a firestorm in the restaurant industry. A gradual increase in Michigan’s minimum wage that is set to begin at the start of next year could decimate the state’s restaurant industry.

Restaurant owners and workers oppose the increase because it would all but eliminate tipped wages — hourly pay that usually exceeds what the minimum wage will eventually reach in 2029. State Representative Nate Shannon of Sterling heights is sponsoring a bill that would scale back the increase for tipped workers.

State Senator Sue Shink on WKHM Monday had some things to say about it: