🎉WE DID IT!!🎈 We just submitted 210,000 signatures to put paid sick time and fair wages on the ballot!
A message from Missouri Jobs with Justice Director, Caitlyn Adams, on this historic day, May Day 2024!
This time last year, I sat at a table with several of our partners, workers, and leaders from across Missouri and we agreed that we needed to take on the inevitable; using the initiative petition to provide guaranteed paid sick time for workers and raise the minimum wage to $15/hour. For years, we have been fending off numerous attacks on the initiative petition process and we knew we had a slim window of opportunity to get a higher minimum wage and paid sick time on the ballot for 2024. It was now or never for workers to organize directly with Missouri voters.
188,257 signatures. That is the number of signatures the campaign needed to qualify this initiative and get it on the 2024 ballot. For over a year, volunteers, union and community leaders, deep canvassers and staff talked to voters in every county in Missouri about this initiative petition. From the union hall to churches to front porches, we fought for each and every signature because we know what is at stake for working class folks in Missouri. No matter where you live or what you do, no one should be forced to choose between a paycheck and being there for our families.
And today, I am proud to announce that we have achieved what we set out to do a year ago. Today, the campaign turned in more than 210,000 signatures – and MOJWJ leaders gathered more than 100,000 of those signatures! We wouldn’t have done it without supporters like you taking action with us— whether you volunteered, donated to support the petition, or spread the word to your friends and family, it truly made a difference for this campaign.
I am so proud to be a part of this campaign – and I know we’re going to win this thing! We’re going to win the same way we always have, by coming together.
This is a huge win for workers and members at Missouri Jobs with Justice Voter Action. When we get this ballot initiative passed, it will raise the wages of half a million Missouri families and ensure workers earn up to 7 paid sick days per year, preventing people from spreading infections to coworkers, customers, and the community! We need supporters like you to share this win and continue to spread the word about this initiative to friends and family.
Thank you for taking a stand for workers. Thank you for building a Missouri where we all have the freedom to care for our families and thrive.
