St Louis could be the next city to raise its minimum wage significantly, if Mayor Francis Slay has his way.
A spokeswoman for the mayor, Maggie Crane, on Tuesday confirmed the Democratic mayor wants to see the city’s minimum raised.
“Mayor Slay is committed to raising the issue with the Board of Aldermen this summer,” Mary Ellen Ponder, Slay’s chief of staff, told the St Louis Post-Dispatch. “He believes, and he thinks most residents agree, that a higher minimum wage would be a good thing.”
Details of the bill are still being ironed out. The formal bill is to be filed at the city’s board of aldermen on Friday, according to Alderman Shane Cohn, a Democrat who is sponsoring the bill.
Yes, I will be introducing Board Bill 83 this Friday, establishing a minimum wage in the City of St. Louis. Details to come....#RaiseTheWage
— Shane Cohn (@shanecohn) June 2, 2015
Time is of the essence for St Louis and other Missouri cities that want to implement a different minimum wage from the state. Last month, Missouri passed a bill prohibiting cities from adopting local policies, including a local minimum wage. Only cities with a different minimum wage in place before 28 August would be exempt.
“The Show-Me state just showed that real, life-changing victories are possible when we stick together. By standing up and speaking out, we are on the verge of making St Louis the first city in America’s heartland to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour,” said Bettie Douglas, 51, a member of St Louis’s Fight for $15 chapter, Show Me $15.
If St Louis passes the $15 minimum wage, it would join cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle in leading the way for a higher minimum wage. Local governments have taken the spotlight on the issue, as Democratic lawmakers in Washington have struggled to garner support for their attempts to increase the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 since June 2009. Their most recent proposal would see the minimum wage raised to $12 an hour by 2020.
America’s low-wage workers, however, are aiming higher and are not giving up their fight for $15 an hour.
“Momentum is building from coast to coast – from St Louis to Los Angeles – to end the low-wage crisis that’s making it impossible for people like me to get by without relying on public assistance,” said Douglas, who currently works at McDonald’s and struggles to support herself and her 14-year-old son on just $7.60 an hour – the current minimum wage in the state of Missouri.
“If we can win here in St Louis, we can win anywhere.”
