AFL-CIO seeking higher pay in Missouri

~ Union leaders say the state's minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 cents since 1997.

ST. LOUIS -- The AFL-CIO and other community leaders launched a campaign Tuesday to convince voters to raise Missouri's minimum wage to $6.50 per hour.

Union leaders and others rallied Tuesday morning in St. Louis; another rally was planned for today in Kansas City, and was scheduled to include an appearance by John Edwards, the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee.

"Somebody has to stand up. I'm speaking for all the people who are in my shoes," said Vennie Sharp, who makes $5.90 per hour at a St. Louis shoelace-making company where the 68-year-old worker has been for 20 years.

Union leaders say Missouri's minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 cents since 1997 -- the last federally mandated increase, while the cost of health care, housing and gas have risen sharply.

AFL-CIO activists in the state recently presented a petition with 210,000 signatures aimed at getting the minimum-wage increase on Missouri's November ballot.

Signatures are being collected in other states as well, including Ohio, Montana, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada, to let voters decide on raising the minimum wage.

State Rep. John Bowman, D-St. Louis, said the argument has been made that Democrats are using the minimum-wage measure to lure more Democratic supporters to the polls in November. He said the issue was more important than politics and would pump millions of dollars into the economy.

"Missouri jobs don't pay enough to keep families out of poverty," said Bowman, who sponsored a failed effort to raise the minimum wage with a bill earlier this year.

Seventeen states have a higher minimum wage than the federal standard, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

In 2004, Florida voters raised the state's minimum wage to $6.15 an hour and annual inflation adjustments have put it at $6.40 an hour today.

Missouri voters could do the same and raise the minimum wage to $6.50 by Jan. 1, with annual increases to follow.

Some Missouri lawmakers, including Rep. Jim Guest, R-King City, have argued that raising the minimum wage could put some companies out of business, including his pizza business.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry is concerned the increase would put a strain on supply and demand in the state. In 1996, that organization spoke against a failed minimum wage ballot measure that would have created a $2 an hour increase, to $6.25 an hour.

"With gasoline at $3 a gallon, I think we will find enough voters to pass this," Bowman said. "The price of everything has gone up since then except the minimum wage."

Chamber President Dan Mehan has said his group would campaign against a Nov. 7 ballot measure if it is approved by the Secretary of State's office.

"The simple fact is that Missouri's minimum wage should be tied to the federal level," Mehan said. "This campaign will artificially increase the wage base. This would translate into a cost increase for the consumer. The labor market in Missouri does a fine job of determining what the wage rate should be."

A report by the Missouri Division of Budget and Planning said raising the minimum wage would add $85 million in income for workers in the state and return $21 million to Missouri retail businesses.

An estimated 42,000 Missourians earn the minimum wage, said Robert Soutier, president of the Greater St. Louis Labor Council, AFL-CIO. More than 100,000 Missourians make less than $6.50 per hour, he said.

"There's no evidence that it will create a loss of jobs. It's human dignity and common sense," Soutier said. "It's horrible to think hat someone can try to raise a family on $11,000 a year."