 The minimum wage debate has become increasingly heated over recent days in
Illinois’ biggest city and throughout the state as fast-food workers threaten to
strike if their demands for higher wages aren’t met and small businesses in
Chicago seem conflicted about the city’s potential minimum wage increase.
Representatives from small businesses met with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel this
week to explain their concerns about the Windy City increasing its minimum wage,
citing potential reductions in current employees and future hiring — even though
many said they supported a higher minimum wage philosophically.
Wednesday’s ordinance introduction follows a recommendation from the Emanuel-led
Minimum Wage Working Group — a compilation of city aldermen, union and business
leaders appointed by the mayor. The group voted 13-3 on July 9 in favor of
recommending to the city council what amounts to about a 63 percent to the
city’s minimum wage.
Three members of the mayor’s task force — including representatives from the
Illinois Retail Merchants Association and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce —
opposed the increase, citing poor business practice and unemployment concerns.
If approved, the proposed increase would come in stages over the next three and
a half years, with the full $13 an hour wage reached in 2018. Restaurant
employees and other workers who legally receive a lower salary due to tips would
also receive a $1 increase to $5.95 an hour in minimum required base salary.
Kim Maisch is the state director for the Illinois chapter of the National
Federation of Independent Businesses, and said raising the minimum wage is a bad
idea for Chicago.
“Employers only have so much money to spend on labor,” Maisch said. “When the
labor costs go up, many will be forced to slow or stop hiring. The vast majority
of small businesses in the state are against an increased minimum wage because
of this.”
Maisch also said most people won’t be willing to pay the increased prices for
goods caused by the increased cost of labor, and will look elsewhere.
“There are many cities surrounding Chicago,” she said. “If significantly
increasing the minimum wage causes the price of hamburgers to go up
significantly, people will just cross the city border to another town and pay
less again.”
Proving this isn’t just an issue in Chicago, a statewide advisory referendum
will be on the Nov. 4 ballot asking voters whether Illinois’ minimum wage should
be raised to $10 an hour.
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Prominent Democrats like Gov. Pat Quinn, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin,
Lieutenant Gov. Sheila Simon and Sec. of State Jesse White held a
press conference over the weekend to throw their collective support
behind Raise Illinois, a group working to increase the state’s
minimum wage through advocating affirmative votes on the ballot
referendum.
Raise Illinois hopes the results of the referendum show an
overwhelming support for a minimum wage.
“This measure is an opportunity to move the conversation about
giving low-wage workers better wages while engaging new communities
about the need for a fair economy and breathing new life into the
democratic process for low-wage workers who have been left behind
for too long,” the group said in a press release.
The group says a higher minimum wage will help struggling families
more fully participate in the state’s economy, and that the economy
will benefit from it as well.
For his part, Gov. Quinn announced he would live off the equivalent
of the minimum wage for a short period of time, hoping to garner
support for raising it.
The governor cited his understanding of biblical values as
justification for the move.
“There’s a principle as old as the Bible,” Quinn told attendees at
the press conference. “If you work 40 hours a week, if you’re doing
your job, you shouldn’t have to live in poverty.”
Quinn didn’t say how long he’d live off of a minimum wage equivalent
or when he’d start.
While the national minimum wage requirement is $7.25 an hour, some
states have wage floors much higher. Illinois’ current minimum wage
is $8.25 an hour, placing it among the top five states with the
highest minimum wage. Chicago’s potential increase to $13 an hour
would follow Seattle’s experimental minimum wage rate of $15 an hour
enacted earlier this year.
The City Council isn’t expected to act on the minimum wage proposal
until after the November election.
Brady Cremeens is a reporter with the Watchdog affiliate, Illinois
News Network.
[This
article courtesy of
Watchdog.]
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