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"Do workers really need to be
protecting the interests
of the One Percent?"
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Recently,
the St. Louis Board of Alderpeople passed a bill to increase the
minimum wage from $7.65 to $11 by 2018. It was a fight to the bitter
end as our goal was to get $15 per hour. We pointed to Kansas City as a
motivating factor; lawmakers there had just increased their minimum
wage to $13 per hour and St. Louis likes to tout its progressiveness
over their sister city. Proponents of the St. Louis measure were
desperate to get the local bill passed before state law passed by the
Missouri General Assembly went into effect prohibiting cities’ minimum
wage to exceed that of the state. This is an example of the
Republican super-majority imposing their version of states’ rights.
Given the stagnation of workers’ salaries over the last three decades,
I believe fighting to raise the minimum wage is one of the most
important battlegrounds in the labor movement right now.
The hotly debated bill went through several versions to address both
aldermanic concerns and those from the broader community. A $15 hourly
raise by 2020 was enthusiastically favored by labor, community
activists and faith leaders. Then it went to $13 by 2020. As it sits
now, the first increase for the City’s minimum wage will kick in on
October 15 at $8.25. Incremental increases would happen every year
until 2018 when I’m sure living expenses would have caught up with the
increases by that time since there’s no built-in Cost of Living
Adjustment (COLA).
Opponents of the minimum wage pointed to several reasons why the bill
should not see the light of day. Most of them were old, worn-out scare
tactics like businesses would leave the city in droves, right into the
open arms of St. Louis County who has refused to raise its wage. Never
mind that over half of the states in the country have adopted minimum
wages higher than the federal rate of $7.25 and the sky is still intact.
One alderman said he’d rather have a lot of minimum wage jobs than a
few living wage jobs. This is the kind of mentality that benefits no
one but the corporate class. There were franchise owners who talked
about how small their profit margins are already and that having to pay
workers a decent wage could put them out of business. Their backward
thinking is that we need to protect the bottom line of big businesses
instead of fighting to raise the wages of hard working people.
When I testified at the aldermanic hearing, this trend of thinking left
me no choice but to challenge those small business owners to join our
movement to fight for our cut of the huge corporate profits and stop
fighting each other over the crumbs the greedy capitalists throw at us.
The average Fortune 500 CEO in the United States makes more than $12
million per year, about 350 times the rate of the average worker.
Corporations like McDonald’s and Walmart are making record profits yet
refuse to pay their employees a living wage. Their scandalous pay scale
is intentionally kept low enough to force workers to seek government
assistance like food stamps and Medicaid in order to survive.
The GOP has been advancing anti-labor laws across the country as part
of their union-busting strategy. Unfortunately, they are racking up
victories. For the first time in Missouri, the General Assembly passed
a Right to Work bill after several years of unsuccessful attempts. It
was vetoed by the Democratic Governor but still, it was a reminder to
the progressive camp that we must step up our organizing in a bold and
aggressive way.
I’m proud to say that St. Louis has a vibrant Show Me $15 movement
where low wage workers have been waged a valiant struggle for increased
wages, the right to unionize and for dignity in the workplace. The Show
Me workers were the driving force behind the minimum wage campaign and
they aren’t stopping at $11.
When we hear some people question why should McDonald workers should be
making $15 an hour for flipping burgers when they only make $10 an hour
as a secretary, we have to help them see that shaking up the bottom is
good for everyone. If we get a decent wage for unskilled workers, the
logical next battle is for skilled workers to get the pay they deserve.
Again, workers need to stop acting like corporations can’t pay us more
or that some workers don’t deserve more.
U.S. workers have played into the game of “saving” our jobs by
conceding pay raises, working more hours, taking on more duties, giving
up benefits, enduring layoffs and plant closings. We should be able to
clearly see by now that we’ve been suckered by the ruling class. Our
quality of life has systematically diminished over the years as
corporations amass unspeakable wealth, move their businesses out of the
country in search of near-slave labor, hide their ass-ets to keep from
paying taxes, etc.
The campaign to increase the minimum wage is part of the overall
struggle for economic justice and racial equality. I look forward to
the day when we stop fighting over the minimums and start advocating
for the maximum standard of living for the working class.
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 is published every Thursday |
Executive Editor:
David A. Love, JD |
Managing Editor:
Nancy Littlefield, MBA |
Publisher:
Peter Gamble |
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