Nationally prominent Democrats lent their voices to the cause of raising the minimum wage in Missouri on Saturday, February 10, when Democratic National Committee Deputy Chairman Keith Ellison and U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay came to Ferguson to speak up for racial and economic justice.
Ellison, who represents Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District and the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress, said raising the minimum wage is a moral issue.
“This Raise the Wage fight is not just about money, it’s about dignity,” Ellison said at Wellspring Church in Ferguson.
Both Ellison and Clay serve in both the Congressional Black Caucus and Progressive Caucus, and both have supported federal legislation to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour.
Though raising the minimum wage has traditionally been a cause for progressive Democrats, Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Stephen Webber called for everyone across the political spectrum to get on board.
“I pray that everybody, every one of our fellow Missourians, every person in the state, will recognize the importance of raising the minimum wage and the importance of taking care of our fellow citizens and fellow Missourians,” Webber said.
In fact, Missouri Republicans have stood in staunch opposition to minimum wage increases. A bill passed by the Republican-dominated legislature and signed by Governor Eric Greitens in 2017 forbid local minimum wage increases and reverted St. Louis’ minimum from $10 to $7.70.
Activists have turned their attention to a statewide effort that would circumvent the legislature. They must collect tens of thousands of signatures from at least six of Missouri’s eight congressional districts to get the proposal onto the ballot in November.
While many minimum-wage workers live with a spouse or family member who also works, often for a higher wage, a report from the Office of Government Accountability found that around 20 percent of those earning minimum wage live in poverty. A single income of minimum wage or slightly above leaves a family of two or more below the federal poverty line. And this impact is faced disproportionately by women and people of color.
“No one should work a full-time job and still fall under the federal poverty line,” Clay said. “It just shouldn’t be. And that’s what Raise Up Missouri is all about. And there’s another reason why we have to get this on the ballot and get it approved.”
In addition to the congressmen, the audience also heard from activists working low-wage jobs and involved in the Raise the Wage campaign. Betty Douglas, a 60-year-old mother and 10-year employee of McDonald’s, said she took the job in an attempt to climb out of debt incurred by caring for elderly parents and a son with a brain tumor.
Throughout her years at McDonald’s, Douglas said she never made more than $7.90 per hour until St. Louis raised its minimum wage.
“Anybody that works any type of job, they deserve to make a livable wage,” Douglas said.
Despite working, Douglas said, she cannot afford to pay for basic necessities like food and heat for herself and her teenage son. She called for a wage increase and a union to protect fast food workers who speak up.
She said, “It’s a whole lot of Betty Douglases out there, and we’re gonna fight.”
Ellison, Clay join picket line
After the event, Ellison and Clay joined striking workers at Christian Care Home, a Ferguson nursing home, on the picket line. The workers are members of the SEIU Healthcare Missouri and Kansas union and have been on strike since December 1. They allege unfair labor practices and disrespect for the union’s bargaining rights.
Ellison argued that the low minimum wage is tied to rising income inequality, including rates of corporate pay that have dramatically increased while wages for average workers remain relatively stagnant.
“This is a moral stain on our nation,” Ellison said. “Don’t you think for a moment that this is only a Missouri problem. It’s not. This is a problem of greed in high places all over the country.”
