Let’s Fight to Give Missourians Higher Wages, Paid Sick Leave, and Abortion Rights — and Build Something Bigger Along the Way

Missouri is a peculiar state. Much of the national discourse boxes us in as an archetypal southern(ish) red state, and not without reason. In the past year alone, we have faced countless attacks from our increasingly reactionary politicians. Mere minutes after the United States Supreme Court delivered its final death blow to the constitutional right to abortion, Missouri became one of the first states to impose an outright ban on abortion.

This historic assault on bodily autonomy continued with an onslaught against our transgender community, which included a legally-dubious attempt to deny trans healthcare to all Missourians, and culminated with a ban on gender-affirming care and harsh restrictions on athletic participation for trans minors. We have also seen attacks on our collective right to education, from making it more difficult for kids to access library materials, to threats to defund libraries altogether, to prohibiting prisoners from receiving books, to efforts to prevent teaching children about our country’s history, to invocations of full on book burnings.

If this was all you knew of Missouri politics, it would be hard to blame you from writing the whole state off. But the full picture is more complex. Missouri has an underlying populist streak–perhaps best exemplified through our initiative petition and referendum process. In 1908, Missouri joined the wave of progressive reform efforts when voters incorporated the rights of initiative petition and referendum into our state constitution. Today, Missouri is one of only 18 states where voters can use the initiative petition process to propose and vote upon amendments to the state constitution, one of only 24 states where voters can use that same process to propose  and vote upon changes to state statutes, and one of only 24 where voters can override laws passed by the legislature through the referendum process.

The radically democratic nature of these rights are reflected in the language employed by our own Supreme Court in 1922 when issuing one of its many decisions protecting these rights from encroachment by those seeking to curb the power of ordinary citizens:

 

Under our system, that intangible thing we call “government,” the existence of which is least felt when best administered, has its origin in and draws its life and inspiration from the people. They frame and adopt the organic law, which defines the limits of legislative action; they incorporate therein whatever provisions they may deem proper. Thus empowered, as are the people in all governments organized as is ours, the inevitable conclusion follows that if they determine, as they have in the adoption of the initiative and referendum, to limit the province or modify the purview of the Legislature in the adoption or rejection of laws, there is no power that can say them nay.

In recent years, the people of this state have used their powers of direct democracy to make meaningful change in defiance of our recalcitrant legislature. In 2018, we overwhelmingly rejected the attempt to make Missouri a right-to-work state. Later that year, we raised our minimum wage by over 50% and legalized marijuana for medicinal use. In 2020, we increased healthcare access for thousands of Missourians by expanding Medicaid. Most recently, we legalized marijuana for recreational use and provided a mechanism to expunge prior marijuana convictions. In the face of all this, it is no wonder why our Republican legislature seems dead set on hindering the people’s ability to directly impose our will while it also works to undermine our right to vote altogether.

Right now, people across the state are collecting signatures for yet another initiative petition campaign seeking to again raise our minimum wage to $15, permanently tie the minimum wage to inflation going forward, and allow workers in every sector to earn paid sick leave.

Two in five Missouri workers are not guaranteed paid time off when they are sick — forcing them to choose between their livelihoods and their health, as well as the health of their family, co-workers, and community. Half a million Missourians are paid less than $15 an hour — enriching their bosses at the expense of their ability to pay for the essentials of life. Securing these rights would represent a very concrete victory for these workers.

This will not be the only notable effort to employ direct democracy in the 2024 election. Once the Republican lawfare tactics have finally worked their way through the courts, Missourians will be able to begin collecting signatures to restore access to abortion in the state. 

Mid-Missouri DSA has collected nearly 3,000 signatures to raise the minimum wage and guarantee paid sick leave for Missouri workers. We can win this — and use it as an opportunity to organize for more. Missourians have consistently shown a willingness to harness this relatively rare set of political powers to bring about the progressive change that so many in power are openly hostile to. If we can organize and build up an infrastructure to fully utilize direct democracy in this state, there is no limit to what we can accomplish.

Imagine a state where every person has the basic dignity of a livable wage, paid time to recoup from illness or care for their loved ones, and a constitutional right to abortion. But don’t stop there. Imagine a state where we don’t have to overturn right-to-work laws because our constitution prohibits right-to-work, guarantees a prevailing wage for public works, and provides meaningful protections to all workers who seek to collectively bargain. Imagine a state with an explicit constitutional promise of equal protection under the law for every person, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or economic status. Imagine a state where nobody has to choose between groceries, healthcare, rent or childcare. Now stop imagining that state and come help us build it.

Sign up as a DSA member here (pick the income-based or monthly dues option if you can). To let us know you want to help with this campaign, fill out our interest form and check the box next to “Fighting for a higher minimum wage and paid sick leave (signature-gathering and canvassing)” in the activities section.

People tell us increasing the minimum wage will drive up prices: Here’s why it’s bullshit.

This blog post is dedicated to the guy who told our canvassers that he opposes minimum wage because he’s “an economist.” To that guy we entreat: Get a real job.

Right now, MidMO DSA is part of a campaign to gather signatures for a $15/hr minimum wage ballot initiative along with other DSA chapters across the state and our coalition partners, Missouri Jobs with Justice. Our chapter has, in just three months, gathered over a thousand signatures in Columbia alone, so suffice to say that enthusiasm for the campaign has been amazing. However, every now and then we get a few individuals who decide to push back with a little bit of economic orthodoxy best summed up in this watermarked 2016-esque meme:

So let’s talk about this idea, and why it doesn’t carry water. The idea here is called “wage push inflation.” It’s the idea that in order to preserve profits after an increase in wages, employers must increase prices, thereby driving inflation. It’s a tidy idea that, like a lot of capitalism, works on paper but not in the real world.

Let’s get this out of the way first: as many other people have pointed out in response to this meme, prices have risen even though the federal minimum wage has remained $7.25 since 2009, making the federal minimum wage worth less than at any period since the mid-20th century.

But even if the wage had been raised, there isn’t actually evidence that prices would have risen. Historical studies have found no strong correlation between increased mininum wage and prices. In one national study conducted by the Upjohn Institute, examining state and city-level minimum wage increases across the country from 1978-2015, researchers found that prices rose just .36% for every 10% increase in minimum wage. In some cases, an increased wage actually brought prices down!

At a national level, when the minimum wage was increased in 1980, 1981, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1997, 2007, AND 2008, inflation actually remained stable or decreased each time.

At a state level, 30 states have raised their minimum wage beyond the federal minimum.There has not been a noticeable price increase for states that have raised wages versus those that have kept wages at the federal minimum. Moreover, states with higher minimum wage recovered faster and saw their economies grow faster following the COVID19 pandemic.

While myths against minimum wage increases persist on the midwit right, actual empirical evidence shows time and time again that raising the minimum wage helps both workers and the economy more broadly. We can achieve that here too. Join our campaign!

Ashland Pride and the Fight for $15

This Sunday, MidMO DSA members joined our comrades in Missouri Jobs with Justice at the Ashland Pride Fest to gather signatures for the Fight for $15 ballot initiative campaign that we are conducting alongside JwJ, St. Louis DSA, and KC DSA. This campaign is a necessary act of solidarity with the queer working class.

US poverty wages disproportionately impact already marginalized communities. More than half of min wage workers in the US are women. Half of essential workers making less than $15/hr are BIPOC. Queer working class folks are similarly impacted.

LGBT+ workers earn 90 cents on the dollar compared to the average American worker. 80 cents on the dollar for Black LGBT+ workers, 79 cents for women LGBT+ workers, 70 cents for nonbinary workers and trans men, 60 cents for trans women.

23% of LGBT+ people in the US lived in poverty in 2020. 33% for LGBT+ POC. Particularly horrifying: more than twice the % of trans people live in poverty compared to the general population. The likelihood of living in poverty for a trans person in the US is up to 70%.

Many, if not an outright majority, of people of working age who live in poverty are working. Our wages however, are not capable of sustaining anything but poverty. A full time min. wage worker cannot afford a two bedroom rental in any state in the US.

It is desperately necessary for the working class of this country, white, cis, BIPOC, LGBT+, that we raise the minimum wage, and provide greater protections for working people. Our Fight for $15 initiative will not only raise the minimum wage in this state, But also guarantee paid sick leave for all workers, full and part time. This would be a game-changer for the working poor of our state. But we need your help!

Pledge your support to help us gather signatures, present to others, or share your story: https://mojwj.org/action/pledge-your-support-for-fair-wages-and-earned-sick-time/

We can do this. We can build a state that works for ALL of us. Join us!