Once again the Mayor of Kansas City is tackling legislative issues wherein he had no direct control or vote. Sadly, his advocacy has put City Hall into an expensive crisis that has led to competing resolutions and expensive special election.
Here's the word that slipped past most mainstream media yesterday afternoon . . .
Mayors James & Slay Call For Statewide Minimum Wage Increase
Kansas City Mayor Sly James and St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay today called for action at the state level on increasing the minimum wage.
The Secretary of State’s office has approved for circulation three statewide initiative petitions to increase Missouri’s minimum wage. The Mayors’ call to action comes at the end of a summer in which both cities worked to implement local ordinances that would have raised the minimum wage beginning today. They championed pay increases for thousands of their cities’ workers as the federal and state government have not addressed the issue.
“Workers in our cities and across the entire state work at one, two, or sometimes even three jobs, but they still cannot earn enough to provide for themselves and their families,” Mayor James said. “This injustice creates a burden on state and city resources and stalls economic activity in Missouri. While we weren’t able to implement a local ordinance to raise the minimum wage in Kansas City, my commitment to pursuing this policy change has not wavered.”
Mayor James began the minimum wage debate on March 31 of this year when he called for an increase during the Kansas City State of the City address. Kansas City’s City Council has passed an ordinance to increase the minimum wage to $13 by 2020, but implementation was halted due to a referendum. Additionally, if House Bill 722 is not overridden, a special election on November 3 will be called for voters to decide on a phased-in minimum wage increase of $15 by 2020.
Mayor Slay agreed that the time has come for a minimum wage increase.
“I believe that the arguments for raising the minimum wage in the state’s largest cities are also compelling for the entire state, ” Mayor Slay said. “A living wage rewards work and alleviates taxpayers from the burden generated by employers who pay too little and whose employees must rely on government subsidies to fill the gaps created by the current minimum wage. Not only would a higher minimum wage benefit employers of our cities by attracting the best workforces, but also I believe that a higher statewide minimum wage would help Missouri attract the best workers in the region.”
On August 28, 2015, Mayor Slay signed a bill passed by the Board of Aldermen into law, which phases in an $11 an hour minimum wage increase in the City of St. Louis by 2018. This follows Mayor Slay’s response to President Obama’s 2014 State of the Union address in January when the Mayor amended the City’s compensation regulation to ensure that all St. Louis City government employees receive a minimum of $10.10 an hour.
The Missouri General Assembly set an August 28th deadline for cities to be able to get local legislation on the books to enact a higher minimum wage, which is why both leaders pushed to get the wage increased now to help fellow citizens. Next month, the state legislature will consider overriding Governor Nixon’s veto of House Bill 722, which would interfere with local decisions on worker wages, employee benefit policies, and limits on plastic bags at grocery stores.
Both mayors hope that business leaders who were concerned about individual cities enacting higher minimum wages will strongly support a statewide increase in the minimum wage.
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Constitutions come & go, & only in America do we behave as if they were carved in stone. They can be amended, & even rewritten.
ReplyDeleteIts simply a question of justice. Do you really want a permanent underclass? Do you want crime with those fries?
Fact Check - The Pew Research Service blew the lid off of this whole discussion almost three weeks ago. There findings clearly demonstrate a $15 minimum wage isn't necessary in most cities in the Midwest, Dallas, Chicago, and Minneapolis being the exceptions. Check it out for yourself Tony: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-map-shows-why-a-15-minimum-wage-is-a-terrible-idea-2015-8?utm_content=buffere8df9&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
ReplyDeleteNow, here's how this will play out if it really passes. Small business owners in this country most of whom are not "rich" employ the vast majority of the minimum wage workers. The business owners will be left with only three options if this passes:
1) Hire fewer minimum wage staff members in order to hold down their operational costs. Who gets hurt? Answer - The little guy looking for a job.
2) Pass along the operational costs of these needlessly higher wages to their customers by increaseing the price of their goods and services. - Who gets hurt? The little guy who purchase these goods and services (think fast food prices).
3) Continue to operate at a usual, obsorbing the increased cost of doing business by realizing less of a profit by the time the liabilities have been paid. Who gets hurt? The small business owner who's trying to scrape out a living.
Since the decision as to which option to take will be left in the hands of the small business owner, which option do you think they are going to take? Facts are stubborn things. No matter how Sly and the other politicos want to spin this discussion, two out of three options small business owners will be faced with are bad for the little guys making minimum wage, which in turn will be bad for the local economy. It's all BS propaganda.
Still, I'm sure Sly doesn't care about that. He's been re-elected to a second term. He can inflict as much damage as he likes. By the time the real impact of these political decisions are being felt, it will be the next Mayor's problem to have to fix.
Sure does cost a lot to give a raise.
ReplyDeleteKCMO elected officials and the City Manager have a lot of nerve fighting for a minimum wage increase during a wage freeze at the City. Posturing and irresponsible leadership.
ReplyDelete@11:06 - You said a mouthful. Going from $7.65 to $15 an hour = a 96% pay increase. I sure wish Mayor Sly and his City Council would advocate for a 96% pay increase for the city employees that aren't part of Local 42!
ReplyDeleteHe's calling for a statewide minimum wage increase because he realizes Kansas City's silly attempt at increased wage was futile. You'd think he'd know this having studied law once or twice.
ReplyDeleteYes folks we don't care if you have to work 80 hours a week, but we want more earnings tax.
ReplyDelete