Across the country, cities have been increasing the minimum wage toward levels full-time workers can actually live on. But St. Louis is going the other way. On Monday its minimum wage will drop from $10 to $7.70, reversing a city-mandated increase that happened just three months ago. The rare rollback wasn’t the city’s choice—it was forced by the Republican-led state Legislature, which passed a bill prohibiting city-specific minimum wage increases.VICE News spoke with St. Louis’ mayor, who’s not at all happy with the decision. We also spoke to one of the city’s most recognizable businessmen, who has vowed to continue honoring the higher pay floor anyway, and a low-wage worker who was caught completely off-guard.
This segment originally aired August 24, 2017, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.
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