Today in “All Republicans are Douchebags”.
Missouri’s Republican Governor Eric Greitens , at the eleventh hour, signed his first budget into law Friday, June 30, 2017, and announced that the $10 minimum wage increase that St. Louis low-wage workers began to receive two months ago, would roll back to $7.70 on August 28, 2017.
St. Louis originally passed a minimum wage hike two years ago, prompting business groups to sue to stop it in court. The Missouri Supreme Court recently ruled that the St. Louis measure was lawful, but the new state preemption law renders it irrelevant.
After St. Louis leaders raised the wage floor for workers within city limits, the state GOP recently passed what’s known as a statewide “preemption” law, forbidding localities from taking such matters into their own hands.
When asked about the minimum wage increase, Gov. Grietens responded with the usual gloomy economic talking point: “It will kill jobs, and despite what you hear from liberals, it will take money out of the people’s pockets.”
As shown from earlier reports, data from San Francisco and Santa Fe, two cities with the longest history of having a higher minimum wage, revealed no statistically significant negative effects on employment or hours (including low-wage industries).
Sierra Parker, a janitor and member of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 1, in a written statement, said:
“Governor Greitens’ announcement shows his decision was never about Missouri’s working families. It was always about lowering wages and making his rich donors happy. The $10 minimum wage has already changed my life for the better. Now, Governor Greitens intends to take money out of the pockets of more than 35,000 St. Louis working families. For me and so many others, that means going back to living paycheck to paycheck. He thinks he can sneak his decision by us over the holiday, but this doesn’t change anything. Working people will keep up the fight to hold him accountable.”
