On Wednesday, March 14 the Blunt administration reversed its earlier position denying the increase in Missouri’s minimum wage to tipped employees.  More than 62,500 tipped employees in Missouri should see a raise in their next paycheck.Tipped employees should have gotten a raise on January 1, 2007, along with all other Missouri workers when Proposition B to raise Missouri’s minimum wage went into effect.  It has taken months of fight back from servers and the Save Our Tips campaign to get a reversal from the administration.  JwJ members collected signatures on the Save Our Tips petition and signed up servers on Save Our Tips cards to help win the campaign.  

Tipped employees are entitled to back-pay, retroactive to January 1, 2007, the date their raise went into legal effect.   We are also looking into whether servers are entitled to damages for being underpaid for more than 10 weeks. Jobs with Justice and its Workers Rights Board will continue to work with servers that signed on to the Save Our Tips campaign to ensure they actually receive the wages they deserve.  Allies in Give Missourians a Raise and the Save our Tips Campaign include ACORN; AFL-CIO; AFSCME; Brennan Center for Justice; Missouri Citizen Education Fund; Schuchat, Cook and Werner Law Firm; SEIU; UNITE HERE     

Missouri workers are taking a beating from the rising costs of health care.  A recent study of working families in St. Louis, detailed in our new report “Living in the Red” showed that more than half of these families had medical debt from unpaid bills to hospitals, pharmacies, doctors or ambulances.

Health insurance doesn’t even protect working families like it used to.  In “Living in the Red” we learn that more than half of those families struggling to pay medical bills (52%) were insured at the time the medical debt was incurred.

That’s why Jobs with Justice is commited to the “First Things First” campaign, which calls on our Governor and state legislators to enact comprehensive Health Care reform that:

1. Guarantees quality, affordable health coverage for every Missourian whether they are privately insured or covered by a public program.
2. Restores Health Coverage to those who were cut in 2005.
3. Makes HealthCare for Missouri’s families a priority in 2007 over tax breaks for the wealthy.

Sign the “First Things First Petition” Today!

Nearly 700,000 Missourians have no health insurance.  In 2005, Missouri politicians continued to give away millions of dollars in tax breaks for insurance companies and corporations, while eliminating health coverage for 100,000 Missourians and cutting health services for over 300,000 more!

Nobody in Missouri voted for that.  We need to set this right and ensure that health care for children and families becomes a priority this year!

We call on Governor Blunt and the Missouri Legislature to support a common-sense health care plan that:

• Guarantees quality affordable health coverage for every Missourian
• Restores health coverage and services to those who were cut in 2005
• Makes health care for Missouri’s families a priority in 2007

Sign the Petition Now

City-wide contract negoatiations are underway for thousands of St. Louis Janitors.  St. Louis Janitors, more than 3,000 members of SEIU Local 1, are currently in negotiations with the Contract Cleaners Association.  They are fighting for living wages, health insurance and the opportunity for full time work.

Now is a very important time for the community to show support for those that empty our trash cans and sweep our floors each night.  Negotitations have stalled and their contract will be extended to the end of January. 

Show your support: Sign the Justice for Janitors petition today!

Tell your friends and co-workers to sign the petition, too

In November, Missourians overwhelmingly approved an increase in the state’s minimum wage.  Illinois’ minimum wage is already well above the federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour.  Today we can help be sure ALL the workers in our country can get the raise we’ve won in our states.

The new Congress has just been sworn in - and they have promised to make raising the minimum wage one of their first priorities. The House will vote as soon as next Wednesday.  Please take action today and tell Congress to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour with no anti-worker amendments or tax breaks for the wealthy. 

Proposition B to raise Missouri’s Minimum Wage has passed overwhelmingly.  Thanks to the thousands of Missourians that worked in one way or another on the campaign, and to the more than 1.5 million Missouriains that voted to Give Missourians A Raise.

The Missouri Supreme Court, in a 6-1 opinion, affirmed the decision of Cole County Circuit Court Judge Richard Callahan that the law is unconstitutional. The court held that the law burdened the fundamental right to vote and violated the equal protection provisions of the Missouri Constitution.

The decision means that registered voters will NOT be required to present one of the four forms of photo ID outlined in SB1014 this November.

Voters will be able to show up at the polls this November and vote upon presenting one of the many types of identification spelled out in Section 115.427 of the Missouri Revised Statutes (including an out-of-state driver’s license, university ID, utility bill or bank statement, or personal knowledge of two election judges if the person lacks any ID).

However, JwJ and other area organizations are still organizing to be sure every Missouri vote counts.  To volunteer to be a poll monitor, call or email JwJ Organizer Aaron Burnett.

Special thanks to Denise Lieberman from the Stetin Center for Law and Social Change for educating JwJ and other grassroots organizations on the Voter ID bill and other voter protection efforts.

Click here for more information about the Voter ID ruling and your right to vote

St. Louis Area Jobs with Justice is one of a coalition of organizations united to “Give Missourians a Raise” by placing an initative on the November 2006 ballot to raise Missouri’s Minimum Wage.  Voters will have the chance to raise the Minimum Wage from $5.15 per hour to $6.50 per hour with annual increases linked to the Consumer Price Index.

You can be an important part of the campaign to “Give Missourians a Raise”.  See the link below to sign up for the many important pieces of this campaign.

• Donate to Jobs with Justice to support its work on the Minimum Wage Campaign,
• I or someone I know makes less than $6.50 an hour and we want to tell voters why we need a raise,
• Download endorsement forms for Congregations, Businesses or Organizations,
• Sign up a congregation to participate in Labor in the Pulpits on Labor Day weekend,
• Sign up to help canvass door-to-door to educate voters about increasing the minimum wage.

St. Louis Janitors Demand Respect on Justice For Janitors Day

On June 15th, over a hundred and twenty St. Louis Janitors and allies rallied and marched through downtown Clayton demanding respect for their hard work an justice in their fight for their basic workers’ rights. Jobs with Justice and the Service Employees International Union helped mobilize representatives from the broader labor movement, community and religious activists, and fellow workers to their demands to the streets.

Marchers stopped outside corporate buildings along the route who subcontract cleaning work to non-union cleaning companies and called for responsible business practices towards workers who make little more than minimum wage and enjoy minimal benefits. A letter was delivered to the offices of Enterprise Leasing asking that they also ask for responsible business practices of their cleaning subcontractor, Boldt Brothers Contracting.

This rally was just the beginning of this year’s campaign to organize and improve the working conditions of area janitors. By the end of the year, representatives of more than 3,000 area janitors will be at the bargaining table demanding progress towards living wages, health care for families, and dignity for all on the job. Stay tuned…