Paul Grund has worked as a waiter at Denny's Restaurant making $2.65 per hour with tips, and as a host earning $7.25 per hour for five months.

The 18-year-old, who works at the 2701 E. Grand River Ave. restaurant, is one of many Michigan workers earning around minimum wage who could be affected by a state proposal recently introduced. The proposal would increase the minimum wage by almost $2 during the course of two years.

"There are a lot of people who do a lot of work and aren't getting paid to make up for it," the Lansing Community College student said.

If Democrats in the Michigan Legislature have their way, people who make minimum wage, or $5.15 an hour, could see an increase in their paychecks.

Democrats will introduce a package of bills in the House to increase the wage from $5.15 to $7.15 during the next two years, making it $2 more than the required federal minimum wage. The first increase would be on July 1.

Servers and those that receive tips would go from $2.65 to $4.60.

Others who have worked in restaurants say they would like to see the wage raised with the rate of inflation - called a living wage. The current inflation rate is about 3.3 percent.

"I worked minimum wage, and it sucked," hospitality business junior Michael Sullivan said. "If they want to raise it, then raise it."

But the proposal could face trouble since many Republicans say they are opposed to the bills and don't expect them to get a hearing.

If the bills don't pass, members of the union organization Michigan State AFL-CIO say they will try to get a ballot initiative for 2006. This would mean voters could sign a petition to be able to vote on the issue statewide.

"The easiest and best route would be for the Legislature to do their job, but if that doesn't happen, we would have to take this to the voters," said Ken Fletcher, legislative director for the state AFL-CIO.

But Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Howell, said raising the wage is a bad idea for the Michigan economy.

"Most people that get minimum wage are in entry-level jobs, and if you raise minimum wage then you're cutting the possibility of hiring more people at entry-level jobs," Garcia said. "You don't want someone living on the minimum wage. Our effort ought to be on bringing or creating more jobs that pay better than minimum wage."

Speaker of the House Craig DeRoche, R-Novi, is adamantly against the raise, said Matt Resch, DeRoche's spokesman.

"This is just about the worst idea at the worst time," Resch said. "We need to help small businesses so people out of work can find jobs, and the Democrats' proposal would make it harder to hire people."

Dan Farough, spokesman for the House Democratic Caucus, said the minimum wage would help the economy because people would get more money in their checks and invest it back into businesses. He said roughly 464,000 people in Michigan would be affected.

"These folks will spend these dollars at their local grocery store and on clothing for their kids," Farough said. "They won't be investing in off-shore accounts or the stock market; this is direct economic stimulus from the bottom up."

Despite Democratic claims that the raise would help businesses, some business organizations, such as the Detroit Regional Chamber and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, plan to oppose the bills.

Sarah Hubbard, vice president of public affairs for the Detroit Regional Chamber, said the raise would hurt companies because they wouldn't be able to hire as many employees.

"We believe efforts to increase minimum wage would be detrimental for businesses to do business," Hubbard said. "It limits a company's ability to hire new employees and limits its ability to bring people into the system or hire summer employees or college students."

If a hearing takes place with the state Legislature, Hubbard said the organization will work against the bills' passage.

Wendy Hofmeyer, director of health policy and human resources for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, said the raise would create unemployment. The current unemployment rate in Michigan is 7.3 percent.

"The Michigan economy is so very volatile," Hofmeyer said. "This isn't the time to talk about proposals that will result in a net decrease in jobs."

But the company Grund works for doesn't believe it will be affected by the proposal.

Debbie Atkins, director of public relations for Denny's Restaurant, said wages depend on an employee's background and the geographic location of the restaurant.

There are 23 company restaurants in Michigan, she said.

"It's my understanding that there will be a minimal impact on our business," Atkins said.

Rebecca McNulty can be reached at mcnult13@msu.edu.