The Missouri Catholic Conference will support Proposition B that seeks to raise the minimum wage in Missouri from $5.15 an hour to $6.50 an hour with increases tied to the Consumer Price Index.

Missouri law presently does not set a dollar minimum but rather adopts the federal minimum wage by reference. The federal minimum wage has not been raised since 1996. Because of increases in the cost-of-living, the current minimum wage is at its lowest value in more than 50 years.

Proponents say raising the minimum wage will benefit more than a quarter million people in the state of Missouri and pump $21 million into the economy. They reject opponents’ claim that raising the minimum wage will result in fewer employment opportunities.

“History clearly shows that raising the minimum wage has not negatively impacted the economy,” said Deacon Larry Weber, Executive Director of the Missouri Catholic Conference. “In fact, during the four years after the last federal minimum wage increase, the economy experienced its strongest growth in over three decades.”

During a news conference on the steps of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Aug. 9, Father Frank Schuele read a statement from Bishop Robert W. Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. Bishop Finn said he supports the measure “as part of my ongoing concern about the dignity of low-income families struggling to break out of poverty and sustain their families.”

“We’ve waited too long for our politicians, our elected officials, to do the right thing,” said Bridgette Williams, the president of the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO. “Now, the people of this state, of this community, have the power in their hands to increase the minimum wage. Think about what an hour’s work is worth. This is not about a minimum wage, this is about the kind of community we want,” she said.

“There are an incredible amount of people whose lives will be made easier when this proposition passes,” said Sherwin Carroll, the director of SEIU Local 1. “Not only is this the right thing to do for families in the state, it’s the right thing to do to strengthen the economy.”

In his statement, Bishop Finn said that “as people of faith, we believe every working person should be able to provide the essentials of life through a just wage. The minimum wage needs to be raised to help restore its purchasing power, not just for the goods and services one can buy, but for the self-esteem and self-worth it affords the worker.”

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have long supported an increase in the federal minimum wage. The USCCB’s Office of Social Development and World Peace states, “In Catholic teaching, the principle of a living wage is integral to our understanding of human work. Wages must be adequate for workers to provide for themselves and their families indignity.”

“The church teaches that work is more than just a job, it is the way people ordinarily meet their material needs and community obligations,” Deacon Weber said. “Wages should allow workers to adequately provide for these needs in a dignified manner.”

Studies show that 70 percent of workers affected by the minimum wage are predominately adult women and minorities and that 30 percent of those are the sole wage earner in their family. Research demonstrates that contrary to popular opinion raising the minimum wage does not so much benefit middle class teenagers as it does poor women and minorities.

Organizers of the news conference put a face on the issue by introducing Elizabeth Manning. Manning, a mother of two, said she’s been working for minimum wage most of her life. “It’s not just teenagers working minimum wage jobs, it’s real people with real families with kids that are trying to survive,” she said.

In his statement, Bishop Finn said fulfilling the basic needs of the poor is of the highest priority. It is the cornerstone of Catholic economic belief. The bishop asked voters to consider three simple questions when they cast their ballot Nov. 7.

1. Do the workers who do the hard, sweaty, unattractive jobs that we all need done contribute to the common good and deserve a wage that’s closer to a living wage?

2. Does simple justice require that we give the first raise in nine years to the lady who cleans the office toilets and the man who stocks the store shelves?

3. With Congress snarled in election-year politics over a minimum wage bill, what should Missouri voters do about this serious moral question?

“I trust that when all people of faith and all people of conscience learn the facts, they will see that raising the minimum wage is the right thing to do and now is the right time to do it,” Bishop Finn said.

Members of the AFL-CIO, SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) also endorse the measure.