Imagine this: you’re already struggling to pay your bills, even though you work full time, and then your child’s school calls.
Little Jessie is running a fever and needs to go home. Of course, little Jessie can’t go back to school until the fever is gone. Of course, you want to stay home to make your child feel better, but the electricity bill is due in a couple of days, and you need every hour of pay you can get.
This scenario isn’t imaginary, it’s real life for me and for other workers right here in St Louis as well as more than 728,000 workers across the state who don’t have a minute of paid leave.
If [Prop A] passes, workers like me will earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. We will be able to take sick leave to care for ourselves or family members… The initiative will also raise the minimum wage to $13.75/hour effective Jan. 1, 2025, and then to $15 effective Jan. 1, 2026.
That is why over 850 Missourians have united to change this reality.
On May 1, we gathered in Jefferson City to submit over 210,000 signatures to put our proposal on the ballot. This November ballot will include Proposition A, a question that will allow Missouri workers to earn up to seven paid sick days per year.
If this passes, workers like me will earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. We will be able to take sick leave to care for ourselves or family members.
The initiative will also raise the minimum wage to $13.75/hour effective Jan. 1, 2025, and then to $15 effective Jan. 1, 2026. It will continue to increase annually with the cost of living after that point. The current minimum wage is just $12.30/hour, less than $500/week for a full-time worker.
That is why I, along with so many others, have been part of the Fight for Fifteen and a union member for over a decade. Hard work deserves better than poverty wages. We know that increasing the minimum wage will disproportionately impact Black workers for the better. Over 90,000 Black workers will get a raise when this change goes into effect.
The momentum behind this effort is strong. Over 115 organizations across the state have already endorsed the ballot measure as well as 400 businesses.
The St. Louis County NAACP recently honored the Missourians for Healthy Families and Fair Wages campaign as one of the 2024 awardees for the 87th Annual Freedom Fund Dinner. I was proudly in attendance.
The most important supporter the campaign can have is you. I hope you’ll vote yes, this November so that all workers can not only survive but thrive. We should earn enough to not live paycheck to paycheck, and we should be able to take time off to care for ourselves and our families without having to worry about whether we can afford to pay our utility bills at the end of the month.
Workers like me are proud to work hard. We just need an economy that works for us.
Bettie Douglas is a longtime McDonald’s employee who has worked with the Fight For $15 initiative and Proposition A campaign.
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