City Will Re-Set Its Minimum Wage

Tonight during the State of the Union speech, President Obama announced his intention to re-set the minimum hourly wage for employees on new federal contracts to $10.10, a step toward a larger goal of setting all workers' wages at levels high enough to support families.

This is a useful step and an important goal. I hope other employers will follow the President's example. The City of St. Louis will.

All full time employees of the City of St. Louis earn more than $10.10 per hour. The hourly minimum wage for full time employees is currently $12.21. City contracts of $50,000 or more already require that employees receive a living wage.

All but 19 per performance (part time) employees of the City of St. Louis earn more than $10.10 per hour. There probably are some small city contracts under which some workers are paid less than $10.10 per hour. That will change.

Tomorrow, I will ask the Personnel Director and the Civil Service Commission to amend the compensation regulation to ensure all part time employees receive a minimum of $10.10 per hour. And I will ask the Board of Aldermen to amend the Pay Ordinance to set a $10.10 minimum for part time employees. And, finally, I will ask the supply commissioner to review all smaller service contracts that fall below the living wage threshold, and identify any employees under such contracts who earn less than $10.10 per hour and deliver in not more than 30 days a plan to raise the minimum compensation under such contracts.

This is a first step, not a final one.