LETTERS: MINIMUM-WAGE FACTS

To the editor:

In reply to Nancy Burk's letter supporting Proposition A, she cannot see the forest for the trees. While some of what she says is true, it would also be a disaster for the small businessman.

My wife runs a small business. She devotes seven days a week to this business and is by no means getting rich. She has said she will quit before paying $6.25 an hour minimum wage. What a lot of people don't know is that when wages go up, her Social Security and workers' compensation insurance also take a big jump.

In Southeast Missouri, we have a number of small factories that employ 200 to 300 people each. To name a few, you have a cap factory in Oran, a shirt factory in Puxico, and there are others in different towns. What these factories manufacture is mostly clothing and caps. These factories are in competition with Asian imports, and some are barely keeping their heads above water now. If the minimum wage rises to $6.25, these factories would do one of two things. Either they would close, or they would move to another state, and the people who worked there would become unemployed.

Also, any business considering a move wouldn't come to Missouri due to the high minimum wage. If this passes, you will see a lot of unemployed people in Missouri.

JIM WILHELM

Benton