Part 5 of a 7-part report
ST. LOUIS -- When it comes to minimum wage, states and cities aren’t seeing eye to eye. And this summer, St. Louis retailers were stuck between a rock and a wage increase.
C-stores have been in the unenviable position of either giving staff a pay cut or paying workers above the state-regulated minimum. This operational lose-lose is part of a larger trend of states overruling cities on wage laws.
In May, St. Louis enacted an ordinance setting starting wages at $10 an hour, with plans to increase to $11 an hour by January. On the final day of the state legislative session, lawmakers at that level passed a bill barring localities such as St. Louis from setting their own wages. Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens has let the bill stand without his signature or veto.
On Aug. 28, the wage dropped back down to the state minimum of $7.70. Meanwhile, the nationwide fight-for-$15 tribe has been leading a campaign in the Midwest city to “Save the Raise.” The group has posted signs in the windows of businesses who are maintaining the $10 hourly wage and highlighted them on their campaign website.
The federal minimum wage has not gone up since 2009. In the past few years, 40 states, cities and counties have taken it upon themselves to raise their own minimums, according to the research think tank Economic Policy Institute. Missouri is one of 27 states that have passed legislation prohibiting cities from creating their own minimum, according to NPR. Lawmakers in Washington, Maine, Colorado and Arizona have proposed bills this year to limit the effect of voter-approved increases. When a city adopts a higher wage than that of surrounding jurisdictions, costs for c-stores within the city are out of whack with costs of surrounding c-stores, says Beckwith of NACS.
Back in St. Louis, retailers have long been critical of the higher minimum wage since city aldermen approved it in 2015. The Missouri Retailers Association and the Missouri Restaurant Association filed a suit against the city, citing concerns that the law would hurt workers. David Overfelt, president of the Missouri Retailers Association, says businesses will likely leave the city and workers will have to travel farther to find jobs, he told the Associated Press.
Next: The SNAP Situation
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