By Sophie Quinton
Stateline.org
Labor advocates gathered to pray on the steps of city hall in Kansas City, Missouri. They pledged to remain there, fasting, until the city council’s vote this week on a proposal to raise the city’s minimum wage. The state’s current minimum is $7.65. The council is weighing an increase to $13 per hour by 2023.
A legal fog has hovered over the city’s deliberations for months. Last week, Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed a bill that would have explicitly banned cities and towns from requiring employers to pay a certain wage or offer benefits such as paid leave. Legal opinions differ on whether current state law might already prohibit cities from doing so, says Michael Grimaldi, press secretary to Kansas City Mayor Sly James.
Kansas City is caught in the middle of a national fight that pits labor against business and increasingly, cities against states. As city after city has voted to give low-wage workers a raise in recent years, state after state has passed laws limiting local governments’ power to do so. Sixteen states now have laws forbidding local municipalities from raising their wage floors, with Michigan being the latest to pass one this year.
Legislators who support these laws say that a statewide minimum wage creates a stable business climate, and thus helps the economy. But some economists say there are good arguments for having a higher minimum wage in urban areas.
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