Saturday, Jan. 7

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Increase to $6.50 an hour has benefited nearly half a million hardworking Illinoisans          Send a link to a friend

Workers and advocates applaud governor for positive impact of wage hike on working families

[JAN. 7, 2006]  CHICAGO -- On Jan. 1, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich celebrated the first anniversary of Illinois' minimum wage increase, which has meant nearly $3,000 a year in increased wages for almost 500,000 hardworking Illinoisans.

In 2003, Blagojevich signed Senate Bill 600, increasing the state's minimum wage 26 percent from the federal minimum wage rate of $5.15 an hour, which hasn‘t increased in nearly 10 years. The increase took effect in two phases. On Jan. 1, 2004, the Illinois rate went from the federal level of $5.15 an hour up to $5.50, and on Jan. 1, 2005, the rate increased again to $6.50 an hour. Prior to the increase, a full-time minimum wage worker earned only $10,712 a year working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year -- well below the 2004 poverty level of $12,500 for a two-person household. With the full increase in place, a full-time worker earning the minimum wage earns $13,520 annually.

"Raising the minimum wage has meant almost $3,000 a year more for the half a million people in our state who work hard to support their families," Blagojevich said. "That money helps them put food on the table, buy clothes for their children, pay the bills -- things that were so much harder to do when the minimum wage was $5.15 an hour, instead of $6.50 an hour."

While many believe the higher minimum wage mainly affects student workers or teenagers, nearly 70 percent are actually 20 years of age or older (average age is 31), and nearly one-third are heads of households. With the new minimum wage, workers 18 years of age and older receive $6.50 an hour, and those younger are paid an hourly rate of no less than $6.

"This increase has allowed me to have more money available to buy food, clothes and pay bills," said Maria Elena Reyes, who works for a printing company near Romeoville, in Chicago's western suburbs. "But what's most important, it allows me to send money to my daughter in Mexico, where she's studying to become a doctor. I thank Governor Blagojevich for raising the minimum wage and helping workers across the state."

With the minimum wage increase, "Now I am able to buy more things my kids need," said Christin Howard, who works for a home health agency in downtown Chicago. "This helps pay bills that normally would remain unopened on the table."

"We at ACORN and our members fight for a living wage every day," said Beatrice Jackson, president of the Illinois chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. "The increase of Illinois' minimum wage will help families to be less dependent on federal programs and more able to live better lives. The increase gives hope to people for the future and lets them know that we will be on the job for them. Governor Blagojevich has moved in the right direction with this, and we hope for his strong support towards an even higher wage for workers and their families."

Blagojevich supported a hike in the minimum wage as research showed significant erosion in the value on the wage since it was first enacted. The federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour buys about a third less than it did a quarter-century ago, according to a 2003 study conducted by the Center for Urban Economic Development of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Studies also suggest that Illinois' higher minimum wage benefits businesses as well as workers. Low-income workers are more likely to spend their wages locally than any other group of workers. Besides potentially moving the wage earners with lowest incomes toward economic independence, the University of Illinois at Chicago study also indicated that higher wages could trigger as much as $900 million in additional sales for Illinois businesses, and more than $1.2 billion when workers earning near the minimum wage (up to $7.50) are taken into account.

Illinois is among 16 states that have passed minimum wages higher than the federal standard of $5.15 an hour. The other states are Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

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Protecting workers' rights is one of the governor's top priorities, and he has through executive or legislative action:

  • Signed legislation that greatly extends protections to the state's 300,000 day laborers and gives the state better enforcement tools to go after unlawful day and temporary labor agencies that cheat workers of their pay or fail to register with the Illinois Department of Labor.

  • Signed legislation that broadens picketing rights for labor unions and other workers involved in labor disputes with their employers, allowing workers to picket, post temporary signs, park vehicles and set up tents or other temporary shelter areas for the picketers on public rights of way.

  • Signed legislation that dramatically changes the workers' compensation system to increase benefits for workers, reduce costs for businesses and fight fraud. After the governor made workers' compensation reform a top priority in his 2005 State of the State address, he convened negotiations over several months with business and labor leaders and members of the General Assembly, resulting in the first major overhaul of Illinois' workers' compensation system in nearly 20 years.

  • Expanded health care benefits to working families. Almost 400,000 men, women and children have received health care in Illinois -- at a time when most states are not providing increased coverage for the working poor and are taking people off Medicaid or significantly reducing their benefits.

  • Signed the All Kids legislation, making comprehensive health insurance available to nearly 250,000 children in Illinois who do not have health insurance. The new law will cover more than half of children who come from working and middle-class families that earn too much to qualify for state programs like KidCare but not enough to afford private health insurance.

  • Signed legislation protecting hundreds of thousands of workers from being stripped by new federal regulations of their right to overtime pay.

  • Signed legislation to protect workers from employer indoctrination and confinement, making Illinois only the third state in the nation to enact card check recognition of public employees. The law provides that if 50 percent or more of workers sign union authorization cards, union recognition is automatic.

  • Signed legislation to help ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work. Under Illinois' Equal Pay Act, if a man and a woman do the same job, they must be paid the same.

  • Signed legislation to protect U.S. jobs by requiring companies bidding for state business to certify whether the terms of the contract will be performed in the United States and encouraging state agencies to buy products that are manufactured in the United States.

  • Expanded rights of Illinois workers to join a union. This directly benefited 50,000 home child-care workers, 20,000 personal-care assistants and thousands of graduate students and court reporters.

  • Signed legislation to improve the structure and funding of the Unemployment Trust Fund.

  • Signed legislation that requires every contractor providing equipment, materials or supplies to the state of Illinois to specify that no foreign-made equipment, materials or supplies be produced by children under the age of 12. Provides for penalties for contractors who knowingly furnish goods produced by foreign child labor to the state.

[News release from the governor's office]


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