MINIMUM WAGE FOES TO GATHER LOCALLY

Save Our State's JOBS and Missouri Restaurant Association representatives will be in Cape Girardeau Tuesday to discuss the federal and state minimum wage increases and their effects on Missouri Restaurants.

Joe Brienza of S.O.S. and Carl Degen, executive vice president of the MRA will be guest speakers at the meeting, to be held following a 7 p.m. dinner at the Holiday Inn.

The new S.O.S. coalition was established to defeat the Missouri minimum wage increase this fall.

There are 306,600 jobs in Missouri that pay between the current $4.25 minimum wage and the $5.15 an hour minimum wage proposal which recently passed Congress.

Employment Policies Institute, of Washington D.C., estimated that Missouri will lose more than 16,000 jobs under the 90-cent federal increase. The state could lose twice that many jobs if the Missouri minimum wage proposal is approved, the group said.

The Missouri proposal, which will be on the November ballot, will increase the current wage to $6.25 in January of next year, and up to $7.80 within 10 years. The initial $2 increase could result in the loss of thousands of Missouri jobs.

"The measure could be devastating to Missouri's economy," said Mark Rhoads, campaign manager for S.O.S. JOBS.

The group, which was established July 31, wants to prevent that, and is in the process of raising funds to educate voters and convince them to defeat this anti-job initiative.

S.O.S. JOBS was founded by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, Missouri Restaurant Association, Associated Industries of Missouri, Missouri Retailers Association, national Federation of Independent Businesses, Missouri Industrial Development Council, Missouri Bankers Association and Missouri Farm Bureau.