The new year broughtabout significant change in Missouri, as the state minimum wage was raised to $11.15 an hour.
The statewide wage raise at the start of 2022 was expected. In 2018, Missouri Proposition B was voted into law. Also known as the $12 Minimum Wage Initiative, the proposal stipulates that the state minimum wage be raised 85 cents every year until 2023, when the $12 benchmark will be achieved.
For Crystal Brigman Mahaney, Communications Director for Missouri Jobs for Justice, the raise is an encouraging sign.
“The exciting part of being involved with Missouri Jobs for Justice and our coalition partners is when you get involved and see the things that you want to see actually happen. That’s a really exciting feeling,” Mahaney said.
Founded in 1999 in St. Louis, Missouri Jobs for Justice is a statewide chapter organization dedicated to economic justice and worker power. The organization works to hold decision makers accountable, introduce ballot measures, expand Medicaid and express solidarity with labor unions and community members.
“Bringing people’s voices together brings real concrete victories, and in this case brings more dollars in people’s paychecks,” Mahaney said. “Which is their ability to be able to decide if they can go to work safely or not or care for their children.”
Mahaney acknowledges that there is still much to be done to help workers across Missouri and St. Louis, and is well aware of the precarious nature of some of these agreements.
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