Minimum wage coalition makes Springfield presentation

Local representatives of Give Missourians a Raise, a coalition of state labor and religious leaders, presented the group’s case for Proposition B this afternoon at National Avenue Christian Church.

The proposition, which will be on the ballot because of a statewide petition that collected more than 200,000 signatures, raises the state’s minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50 an hour. The ballot item also would tie the minimum wage to the consumer price index; the wage would increase proportionally to the CPI each year.

Clark Brown from Service Employees International Union Local 1, IBEW Local 753 Business Manager Brad Stokes and the Rev. Roger Ray of National Avenue Christian Church spoke in favor of the proposition, which would put Missouri in a group with 22 other states that have already passed minimum wage increases. Arkansas and Illinois are among those states.

Research from the Economic Policy Institute says 120,000 Missourians who earn less than $6.50 hourly would receive a wage increase, and 136,000 other low-wage workers also would receive a bump in pay due to the spillover effect.

The Rev. Ray said Missouri can’t afford to wait for federal legislators to take action.

“Our elected officials don’t have the courage to act on behalf of the poor,” Ray said. “Now we have an opportunity as citizens to act on behalf of the poor.”

Washington currently has the highest minimum wage at $7.63 an hour, though Connecticut’s rate increases to $7.65 on Jan. 1, 2007.