Vote ‘Yes’ On Missouri ‘Proposition
B’ (Minimum Wage)
Statement Approved By October 7 Meeting Of the Kansas City
Area Labor Party
Our support for this measure is frankly less than enthusiastic. 6.50 per hour is
still a poverty wage. At the 1996 Labor Party Founding Convention we adopted a
program calling for a federal constitutional amendment setting the minimum wage
at ten dollars per hour, adjusted annually for inflation. Under that formula the
minimum wage today should be over twelve dollars per hour.
As inadequate as this proposal is we nevertheless recognize that it would bring
some sorely needed assistance to the working poor. The provision in Proposition
B for cost of living adjustments, and matching any increases in the federal
minimum, are progressive steps. For these reasons we urge a yes vote.