JEFFERSON CITY — Future minimum wage increases and new paid sick leave rules for employers were on the chopping block late Wednesday in the Republican-controlled Missouri Senate.

Although Democrats said they were close to a compromise to block the repeal amid a 10-hour filibuster, Senate President Cindy O'Laughlin pulled the plug on the talks and adjourned the Senate early Thursday morning.

In a social media post afterwards, O’Laughlin complained that Democratic negotiators were talking to “an outside interest” during negotiations to see if compromise could be made.

“It’s quite difficult to get an agreement when you aren’t dealing with your colleagues but a nameless, faceless person on the phone,” O’Laughlin wrote.

“This is not the ending we were looking for and leaves us much less likely to engage the next time around,” O’Laughlin said.

The move stunned negotiators, who said they were blindsided by O'Laughlin's demands.

“We did our best to negotiate in good faith. We were so close,” Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, D-St. Louis County, told reporters Thursday. “The rug was pulled out from beneath us. It was like it was predestined to fail."

The legislation, which could come back to the floor in the final weeks of the legislative session, keeps a planned minimum wage increase from $13.75 to $15 an hour starting next year, but does away with future inflation-based increases.

The minimum wage and sick leave requirements are part of Proposition A, a citizen-led initiative petition that 57% of voters statewide supported in November. It won support in six of the state’s eight congressional districts.

After Republicans brought the bill to the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon, Democrats spoke out against it and proceeded to stall a vote in order to work out a possible compromise in private talks.

O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, had intervened in the issue earlier in the week when she warned of an impending offensive on her Facebook page.

“Heading to the Mother Ship. Prop A on the agenda. #NoToThisBusinessKiller,” she said. “We are prepared to stay as long as it takes.”

Beck said on the Senate floor Wednesday he felt “pushed into a corner and I don’t like when I get pushed into the corner sometimes.”

The chief Republican negotiator, Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, told Beck that “I think there are things that we can compromise on.”

Bernskoetter said even if businesses have a sick leave policy in place already, “it mandates that they do it this way.”

“I’m sure you’ve heard from your businesses in your district too that some of these rules and regulations are really cumbersome and it would be nice to make it a little less cumbersome,” Bernskoetter said.

Beck said he was trying to strike a compromise because Republicans "wanted to gut the entire thing."

He criticized O'Laughlin's intervention in the talks.

“I’ve tried to provide steady, constant leadership. However, we’re not seeing that from the other side. We’re seeing herky jerky moves," he said.

Beck said Proposition A won in 20 of the state’s 34 Senate districts, including 10 Republican districts. 

“I feel like I’m right. I feel like I’m on the side of working people,” Beck said. “The people of this state have said in no uncertain terms that they want to raise the minimum wage to $15 and they want to have sick pay.”

The sick leave provisions targeted by Republicans require employers with annual business receipts greater than $500,000 to provide at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

Companies with fewer than 15 workers must allow workers to use at least 40 hours per year, with larger employers mandated to allow at least 56 hours.

The law required businesses beginning Tuesday to hang posters informing workers of the new benefits required by Missouri law.

Business groups have asked the Missouri Supreme Court to stop the new law. The high court had yet to act as of Wednesday night after hearing arguments in March.

The legislation is House Bill 567.