Missouri Minimum Wage Hike: Backers Say They Have Enough Signatures To Qualify For Ballot

Backers of an effort to raise Missouri's minimum wage said Monday that they have submitted enough signatures to put the measure on the November ballot.

The proposal would increase the minimum wage by $1 to $8.25 an hour in 2013 and provide for future yearly cost-of-living adjustments. If the federal minimum wage rose above the state's, Missouri would adopt the higher number.

The measure would also require that tipped employees receive 60 percent of the state minimum wage, up from 50 percent.

"There was incredible grassroots energy behind this," said Lara Granich, director of Missouri Jobs with Justice, which backed the proposal. Granich estimated that the campaign turned in 175,000 signatures -- nearly double the number needed.

Missouri Jobs with Justice had earlier spearheaded a 2006 campaign to raise the minimum wage to $6.50; that measure passed with more than 75 percent of the vote.

Advocates say the current measure would help Missouri's lowest-paid workers keep up with rising prices.

"Everything is going up but the paycheck," said Val Gordon, a St. Louis home-care attendant who spent seven months gathering signatures for the petition. "$8.25, it would help a little bit."

Over the past few years, Gordon said, she's had increasing difficulty paying her bills with a minimum-wage job. Her 21-mile commute to work costs her too much, she said, and days off are hard to afford.

"I have to decide whether to spend all of my money going to the doctor or go to work sick ... and me being a caregiver, it's hard to take care of a sick person while being sick," she said.

A number of state business groups, including those in the restaurant industry, oppose the wage increase.

David Stokes of the free-market Show-Me Institute, which views minimum wage legislation as harmful, said the measure would hurt employment numbers, especially for teenaged workers.

"I think in a recession, while there might be the temptation to do it, I would hope that people would think twice about artificially increasing the price of labor, with the realization that with fewer jobs to go around in the first place, the harm's that some people are going to be put out of work," Stokes said.

The minimum wage measure has already been hit with a lawsuit from a Kansas City restaurant owner, and Granich predicted it would face further legal wrangling, including possible challenges over the collected signatures.

"The opposition, I think, knows that ... voters want this," she said. "So they're doing everything they can to keep voters from being able to vote on it."

The minimum wage has also been a hot topic in Missouri's U.S. Senate race, with three Republican hopefuls failing to remember the number when asked during a debate.

Comments

[Dana1982]

08:35 AM on 05/10/2012

It's a sham that the Democrats can't support a living wage in a state they control. The minimum living wage should be closer to $15/hr and be a 40 hour work week with paid vacation and health care. Shame, shame, shame.....

[nothingchanges]

07:52 AM on 05/10/2012

I see the the problem as two fold.

Minimum wage is not enough to live on.

Management is taking all the fruits of labor for themselves.

I think it is time to have a discussion on tying minimum wage to maximum wage.

Pick a number.

I would suggest that no member of management should make more than say 50 times as much as their lowest paid employee.

That way, management has an incentive to raise wages when times are good.

If they want to earn more money for themselves, they have to share that desire and the fruits of their good fortune, with their employees.

I think Lincoln said it about as good as anyone.

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."

[jmdziuban1]

02:32 AM on 05/10/2012

There is no connection between raising the minimum wage and employment, except for a possible very short term effect. An employer will hire the number of people they need to operate their business, no more and no less.

Just as a lowering of wages will not cause an employer to hire more workers due to lower costs, a higher wage will not cause an employer to hire fewer employers if it will adversely effect their ability to operate.

[reeltime07]

01:40 AM on 05/10/2012

Minimum wage is a myth of a lowball amount to SURVIVE on. It has NO foundation in facts. Prices have been rising for everything. Taxes have risen. They continue to pretend only TEENAGERS WOULD WORK FOR MINIMUM WAGE! Instead of an ex-gateway worker that lost his job to his company being sold to China. Or a 27yr worker at one of Bain Capitols' Corperation targets. People that NEVER though they would again be working for minimum wage let alone a barely living wage are despreate and now face choices, no American that has already worked long and hard should have to make. I don't mean," do we fix the old car or get another one", but instead it's" how long do you think we can drive the car WITHOUT INSURANCE". I don't mean" do we get a new tv now that this one broke", but instead it's "can we pay the bill and keep the electric on." This joke called minimum wage, is what keeps destitute citizens from going on strike for being paid nothing at all. If everyone wouldn't accept minimum it would go up to a living wage, which is what is fair, but we all know, times are bad and you've got to feed your family.

[Mr Crabs]

01:39 AM on 05/10/2012

The Repub mentality is "If they would only work for free, there would be no unemployment," Some people might not want to work for free but they can always be indentured.

[cay12]

09:58 PM on 05/09/2012

Republicans and their business interests always toss out the excuse that a minimum wage increase will hurt teenage workers. Do they live in la a land? Do they have any concept of how many working adults now earn the minimum wage. This is not pocket change or gas and movie money. It funds housing, food, clothes, transportation, and health. It is also how so many college students earn their educations.

[HawaiiSteve]

06:23 PM on 06/02/2012

All you have to do is take a walk through your local Wall Mart and see exactly how many middle age and elderly people are working for minimum wage! F&F!

[StinkyMoBub]

09:44 PM on 05/09/2012

"said the measure would hurt employment numbers, especially for teenaged workers."

What a bozotron...talk about disconnected from reality.

Employment numbers mean nothing to an adult trying to support kids on this low of a wage...did ya ever think of that?

[TOPCAT711]

08:52 PM on 05/09/2012

So the minimum wage in Missouri is $7.25 (without this increase) ?

Geez....it's been $9.04 here in WA since last year.

It didn't drive all the businesses out of the state either.

[cay12]

10:07 PM on 05/09/2012

Minimum wage in San Francisco, CA is $10.24, and even that is not enough. If you calculate a living wage in SF, the required minimum amount is $12.65 for one adult. If you add one child, the minimum amount increases to $21.82. Those amounts cover the basics, housing, food, medical, transportation, child care for the one-child budget, and a small monthly amount for other. That's it. No luxuries. Just your basic needs.

[Sam D man]

07:49 PM on 05/09/2012

I don't see no one taking signatures to put politicians pay increase in a ballot. So why shoudl there be one for the working force ? The increase should be mandatory and with out delay nor explanation.I mean every thing else is sky rocketing and I feel minimum wage should too.

[Captain Hindsight]

07:36 PM on 05/09/2012

If Koch Industries paid their share of taxes the owners of the The Red Onion wouldn't have to lay off 2 waitresses and a cook.
They are both "Small Businesses"...
Anyone else see a problem?

[voteindepen]

07:26 PM on 05/09/2012

Ever notice how politicians always fight to raise the minimum wage for people but yet they always have a reason why their own pay should be raised.

[pbrower2a]

07:25 PM on 05/09/2012

This should get the votes out in Missouri.

[AskandThink]

07:22 PM on 05/09/2012

"Put politicians on minimum wage and watch how fast things change."

A gift from your hometown America!

[Captain Hindsight]

07:28 PM on 05/09/2012

More than half of them don't even need the money but they cash the checks anyway.
I'd like to see them live like they want everyone else to live for 1 month every year.

[StinkyMoBub]

09:46 PM on 05/09/2012

Billy Long (the local GOP/T bag rep) lamented at having to take a pay cut when joining congress. The guy's a skunk and made a small fortune auctioning off the misery of others..

[mummblemouth]

03:33 AM on 05/10/2012

Only most politicians don't do the job for the wage, and they certainly don't do it for love of country. Instead, its for all the perks and kickbacks that accompany a position of power.