The Struggle to Raise Missouri's Minimum Wage:

Minimum Wage Petition Drive Successful

Pro-Vote and a wide coalition of labor and community groups came together in March, April, and May to raise Missouri's minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50/hour through a ballot initiative petition signature gathering drive. Key allies on the Give Missourians A Raise Campaign included ACORN, SEIU, and the AFL-CIO.

On Sunday, May 7, Pro-Vote helped deliver over 200,000 petition signatures to the Secretary of State’s office in Jefferson City. Since this is double the number of signatures required to qualify, the minimum wage increase should be on Missouri’s November 7 ballot.

(Picture below: John Hickey, Executive Director and Ron Berry, Mid MO Organizer deliver over 200,000 petition signatures to the Secretary of State Sunday, May 7, 2006)

Too many Missouri families are living in poverty because the current minimum wage ($5.15/hour) is simply not enough to make a living. For example, a single parent who earns the minimum wage makes a little over $10,000 per year – thousands of dollars below the federal poverty limit for a family of three. Over 42,000 Missourians make the current minimum wage. Over 200,000 people would be affected by the increase to $6.50 hour called for in the initiative.

Led by Pro-Vote Organizing Director Margarida Jorge, our staff spearheaded collection efforts in St. Louis, Kansas City, Mid Missouri, and Springfield. Pro-Vote member groups such as the UAW, CWA, SEIU, ACORN, UNITE-HERE!, and the Teamsters collected signatures on shop floors, in union halls, and in the community .

Over 700 volunteers circulated petitions across the state, from Irondale to Springfield, from Hannibal to Fayette. For example, Roy Shoaf went out every day in Kansas City to collect signatures, and Randy Downs in Franklin County collected over 300 signatures. Pro-Vote sends a big thank you to all the volunteers and activists who worked tirelessly to gather signatures on the petition drive.

One of the leading groups collecting signatures was the UAW. St. Louis area activists included Sally Sowards, Ben Harman (Local 110), and Glenn Kage, Angela Herron, and Carrie Griffin (Local 136). In the Kansas City area, Jeff Manning and Donna Birks (Local 31) and Jim Stoufer (Local 249) helped lead a very strong program.

On Tuesday, May 25, we kicked off our "Vote Yes to Give Missourians a Raise on November 7" campaign in St. Louis, and on Wednesday, May 26 in Kansas City. See press clips from the St. Louis kick off event: St. Louis Post Dispatch here, St. Louis Post Dispatch Blog here, and KWMU radio written report here. See the St. Louis Post Dispatch second article here. See the Kansas City Star article here.

Protesting President Bush's and Senator Talent's opposition to

Raising the Minimum Wage in 2006.

On Wednesday, June 28, 2006, Pro-Vote mobilized six hundred protesters to meet President Bush and Senator Talent at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in St. Louis. Senator Talent held a $2,000 per plate fundraiser inside; we raised our voices to demand a higher minimum wage outside. We believe it is wrong for Bush and his cronies to give tax handouts to millionaires while the minimum wage has not increased since 1997. Senator Talent has voted 11 times against raising the minimum wage while voting to increase his own salary every year in Congress.

Pro-Vote was a leader in collecting signatures to put a measure on the November 7 ballot to increase the mimimum wage. (See below) If voters approve the raise, the minimum wage will rise from $5.15 to $6.50 per hour on January 1, 2007. One hundred twenty thousand Missourians would get an immediate pay raise.

Here are some photos from the protest:

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