Kansas City fast food worker Terrence Wise, who met with President Obama this week, urged other workers at a rally last night to continue to fight for a minimum wage increase.
Fresh back from a visit with President Obama, local McDonald’s worker Terrence Wise says the President stands with him and other workers fighting for a higher minimum wage.
“The President told me that what we are doing is right,” said Wise.
He introduced the President at a White House Summit on Worker Voice Wednesday, and was back in Kansas City last night for what workers called a “wage board hearing.” In particular, the workers and others who spoke are urging the city council to stick with its decision to raise the minimum wage to $13 an hour.
Fast-food, home care, child care, and other workers having been calling for Kansas City and cities across the country to raise the minimum wage to $15. Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles have adopted $15 minimum wages.
Now Stand Up KC, a local group, is urging Kansas City not to give up on the minimum wage increase the city council passed, but that city attorneys argue is now illegal.
Attorney Gina Chiala told low-wage workers that a state law prohibiting cities like Kansas City from increasing the minimum wage is not only a bad law, it is unconstitutional.
Gina Chiala, attorney for the group that represents low-wage workers, said advocates of a higher minimum wage want the city to take its law to a public vote and challenge a state law that forbids cities to raise the minimum wage.
City officials have said they are going to repeal their law that raises the minimum wage to $13 an hour by 2020.
That is because the state legislature passed a law last month over the governor’s veto that forbids such actions by cities.
But Stand Up contends that state law and another before that forbids such city actions are unconstitutional because they include multiple subjects.
The new law started as an action to prevent cities from regulating plastic or paper grocery bags and the minimum wage issue was tacked onto it.
But even it that is unconstitutional, if the city decides to keep its raise and fight the state law, it must first allow a public vote on it.
Business interests raised enough votes to force a citywide vote on repealing the city law, which meanwhile has not gone into effect.
“There is absolutely no reason for the city to lay down. We are asking the city council to stand with workers to do what is right,” Chiala said at the rally.
Several workers spoke about their struggles to live on wages they take home after working at fast food and other jobs,. Childcare worker Kenya Banks said she makes $7.75 an hour and goes home exhausted.
“I got into teaching because I love children, but I don’t make enough to support myself,” she said.
Banks said if she made $13 or $15 an hour, she could move out of the shelter where she lives and even buy a car.
“We deserve a living wage,” she said.
This effort is so worth everyone’s time and energy – workers and supporters, alike! Stand up Kansas City City Council – stand up Kansas Citians – listen, believe, and act on the stories of those who are working hard to make ends meet and deserve to be paid more.
What would be worth everyone’s effort is to do what the Mayor suggested and do some research into the implications of this move. There is no magic pill for these matters. Economics is a matter of finding balance where each and every single move has reactions.
If you increase a business owner’s wage cost by 100% he will still run his business in a manner the generates a profit for him. If he has to reduce his staff by 25% that is what he will do. Then you have 1 out of every four of those people who got a wage increase that will now be earning 0. Their ability to replace that income will be reduced because there will be many people in the labor market in the same position. Nearby municipalities will benefit not only from the increased number of people looking for work but also from an increased demands for their services. That will be the case because of another effect of raising the cost of doing business. Higher prices of goods and services. If the price of lunch in KCMO goes up by 25%, more people will eat in KCK or JOCO.
That was just a lot of words to say that the issue isn’t as easy as 8 + 7 equals a better life. After an evaluation it may turn out that raising the minimum wage would indeed be an overall benefit for us in KCMO. We won’t know until we do the math however. At this point the math has just not been done.