More than 100 businesses in St. Louis have committed to paying wages higher than the law requires — keeping a $10-per-hour rate even as a new state law will soon drop the city's minimum wage back down to $7.75 an hour.
Credit for that goes to the "Save the Raise" campaign, which held a press conference today on the corner of Cherokee and Jefferson. After setting up shop just outside of Foam Coffee and Beer, six local small-business owners, an alderwoman and an employee affected by the wage battle shared their stories of fighting back against the state preemption.
The campaign was birthed in July as a way to get local businesses to voluntarily commit to keeping their minimum wage at $10 an hour or before a new state law goes into effect August 28.…