Saint Louis, Mo. — A proposal to increase the minimum wage in Saint Louis to $15 an hour by 2020 hit a major wall today when the committee handling the bill abruptly adjourned all future hearings on the proposal.
Mayor Francis Slay is strongly supporting the wage hike, which would immediately increase the city’s minimum wage to $10 an hour before annually increasing until it reaches the $15 rate.
But the proposal could well be dead in the water after Alderman Joe Vaccaro, is acting chairman of the Board of Aldermen Ways and Means committee, shocked onlookers at Friday’s meeting by announcing all future hearings on the wage proposal were cancelled.
Vaccaro cited the limited timeframe to pass the proposal, part of a broader concern about a bill on Gov. Jay Nixon’s desk. He told reporters it was “disingenuous” for Slay and the proposal sponsor, Alderman Shane Cohn, to offer the body so little time to gather facts and consider a proposal.
Supporters of the wage hike are hoping to pass the bill before Aug. 28, when the bill on Nixon’s desk would take effect and prohibit any city from increasing their minimum wage. Nixon has yet to sign or veto the bill, but the Aldermen are set to break for the summer on July 10.
Ironically, Vaccaro was only able to cancel the hearings as acting chairman because its normal chairman, Alderman Steve Conway, was forced to recuse himself over the proposal, which represents a conflict of interest for him. Conway actively serves as CFO for Imo’s Pizza.
Slay responded that a single official shouldn’t stifle the issue.
“Aldermen should use their power to take up the minimum wage bill and vote on it,” Slay wrote on Twitter. “A single alderman unwilling to take up a hard issue shouldn’t end debate. Marriage equality, justice, access to quality education and a living wage — these are family issues that hold communities together. The City had led the region and state on all of them. We want to be that different place.”
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
