The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thousands likely to see wage drop with Missouri law
Legislators nullify minimum pay vote in St. Louis.
ST. LOUIS — Thousands of workers in St. Louis will likely see smaller paychecks starting Monday, when a new Missouri law takes effect barring local government from enacting minimum wages different than the state minimum.
The law is drawing protests in St. Louis and in Kansas City, where a recent vote approving a higher minimum wage is essentially nullified without having taken effect.
The impact is direct in St. Louis, where the minimum wage had increased to $10 after the Missouri Supreme Court sided with the city in a two-year legal battle. Days after the Supreme Court ruling, Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature passed a statewide requirement that minimum wages not exceed to state level: $7.70 per hour. Republican Gov. Eric Greitens declined to veto the bill, allowing it to become law.
An estimated 35,000 St. Louis workers saw pay raises after the court ruling, and the city’s plan had called for the minimum wage to increase to $11 per hour in 2018.
State Sen. Dan Hegeman, a Republican from rural northwest Missouri, said the higher minimum would force some employers to either cut jobs or move.
“You end up having fewer jobs and you do a disservice to the workers,” Hegeman said. “In my heart of hearts, I really think it hurts people in the long run.”
Supporters of the higher wage say it’s virtually impossible to live on $7.70 an hour. In St. Louis, a campaign was launched last month to pressure businesses to keep the $10 minimum wage.
Organizers said more than 100 businesses signed an online petition agreeing to do so. But many of those are small employers. Fastfood restaurants including McDonald’s Corp. and Taco Bell are among the companies where employees say they expect their wages to drop back to the statewide minimum.