Missouri will vote on $15 minimum wage, paid sick leave for workers on November ballot

Missouri voters will decide in November whether to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and guarantee paid sick leave for workers.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft on Tuesday certified a ballot measure put forward by a campaign seeking to raise the state’s minimum wage. Ashcroft found the campaign, Missourians for Healthy Families and Fair Wages, had gathered enough signatures to place the measure in the November general election.

The measure will be called Proposition A on the Nov. 5 ballot.

“Together, workers and community allies put better working conditions on the job on this year’s ballot,” Terrence Wise, a low-wage worker in Kansas City leader with Missouri Workers Center and Stand Up KC, said in a statement.

“This didn’t happen overnight,” Wise said. “Missourians like me have not only had to work two to three jobs at a time to make ends meet: For over a decade, we have also spent time outside of work organizing our strength in numbers for the dignity of all working people when it comes to our ability to make a living and provide for our families.”

If approved, the measure will gradually raise the minimum wage. The current minimum wage of $12.30 an hour would grow to $13.75 an hour on Jan. 1, 2025, and to $15 an hour in January 2027. The wage would then be adjusted annually based on inflation.

Governments, school districts and educational institutions would be exempt from the increase.

The measure also requires employers with 15 or more workers to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. According to the proposal, the earned sick leave provision would not apply to government workers, retail or service employees who work for a business that makes less than $500,000 a year, people who are incarcerated, golf caddies, and babysitters, among others.

Campaigners submitted more than 158,000 valid signatures.

The proposal would change Missouri law – not the state constitution – meaning the Republican-controlled General Assembly could eventually repeal the measure if it passes. Missouri voters last approved a minimum wage increase in 2018, when they approved an increase to $12.

“I supported the 2018 minimum wage ballot initiative and since then we have doubled our staff, despite the pandemic,” said Andy Montee, owner of Mokaska Coffee in St. Joseph and a member of Missouri Business for a Health Economy, a group backing the proposal.

“Thanks to our wages and culture, we have excellent employee retention, teamwork and customer service,” Montee said in a statement. “The inclusion of paid sick days on this new ballot initiative is another important step forward.”