Op-Ed By Bob Goodrich
Columbia Daily Tribune, Sept 7, 2018. Also in the Fulton Sun.
Movie theaters have been our family business since my father opened a single-screen theater in 1930 with a showing of “All Quiet on the Western Front.” I bought my father’s theater in 1967 and expanded Goodrich Quality Theaters to five states, including Forum 8 in Columbia. We couldn’t have done it without great employees and generations of moviegoers coming through our doors.
A lot has changed and improved in the 50 years since I’ve owned the business – from the wide range of movies we now show to the sound, seats and picture size and quality. One thing that has not changed enough, though, is the Missouri minimum wage.
Missouri’s minimum wage of $7.85 an hour is too low for even full-time workers to afford the basics: food, rent and more. It hurts businesses and the economy when working people don’t have enough income to keep a roof overhead, put food on the table and enjoy needed recreation like a movie every once in a while.
That’s why I support the effort to gradually increase Missouri’s minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2023 through Proposition B. I’m in welcome company with nearly 400 business owners in Jefferson City, Columbia and across the state who have already endorsed the Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage statement supporting raising the minimum to $12 by 2023 as good for business.
Business people across Missouri understand that workers are also customers, and nothing sustains business like consumers with money to spend. ...
Bob Goodrich is the owner of Goodrich Quality Theaters, with locations in Columbia and Jefferson City, as well as four other states, and is a member of Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage.
Copyright 2018 Bob Goodrich