A hike in Chicago's minimum wage was all but guaranteed this week after a city council committee passed an ordinance Monday that would raise the city's wage from $8.25 to $13 by 2019-a 57 percent increase.
"The working men and women of Chicago have waited," said Ald. Will Burns (4th), who sat on Mayor Emanuel's minimum wage working group this summer. "I believe that they have waited long enough."
The ordinance goes to the full council Tuesday morning during a special emergency meeting.
During Monday's meeting of the city council's Committee on Workforce Development and Audit, Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) said he met a constituent at a homeless shelter who was making minimum wage but could not afford an apartment.
"I think this is the right thing to do," said Burnett, who originally supported a raise to $15 but says he changed his mind to support a $13 wage. "We're not going to die. Everybody's not going to die. Everything's not going to close up."
The $13 plan was one of three competing ordinances on the table at Monday's meeting. The ordinance would bump Chicago's minimum wage from $8.25 to $10 beginning July 1, 2015. The wage would then gradually increase until hitting $13 in 2019. After that, increases would be pegged to inflation.
The special meeting fulfills Emanuel's earlier promise to put the issue on the council agenda before the year is over. A minimum wage increase also could bolster his image among progressives, a group he needs to win over in February's election.
Passage of a local wage hike gets Chicago ahead of Illinois. The General Assembly in Springfield has been considering a statewide minimum wage ordinance that could include language prohibiting municipalities from setting their citywide wages above the state's minimum wage.
"I think having the vote happen this week in Chicago is important because it is a very clear message to Springfield to say, 'Back off, you don't get to take away Chicago's wages,'" said Amisha Patel, the executive director of Grassroots Collaborative, which has lobbied to raise the minimum wage.
Voters said they decisively supported a minimum wage increase in the November election, when two-thirds answered "yes" to a non-binding ballot question about whether the wage should be raised to $10. Another non-binding question on the March ballot in select Chicago precincts asked whether the city's wage should be hiked to $15 for large businesses; it passed with more than 80 percent of the vote.
But a Chicago-only wage could make the city less competitive and complicate the business climate, said Theresa Mintle, CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.
"We are standing with other business organizations in Chicago and in Illinois in support of a state solution to the minimum wage debate that's going on right now," Mintle said before Monday's meeting. "We will stand up and basically say that if the Chicago City Council acts ... before the General Assembly gets to act, we will not support that action."
The $13 proposal had another vocal critic in Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), who said small businesses in his neighborhood oppose the measure.
"The companies are going to raise prices and reduce labor. It will have an inflationary effect," said Tunney, who owns the Ann Sather restaurants on the North Side. "These are people that open their door with risk and capital and their own blood, sweat and tears."
"The working men and women of Chicago have waited," said Ald. Will Burns (4th), who sat on Mayor Emanuel's minimum wage working group this summer. "I believe that they have waited long enough."
The ordinance goes to the full council Tuesday morning during a special emergency meeting.
During Monday's meeting of the city council's Committee on Workforce Development and Audit, Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) said he met a constituent at a homeless shelter who was making minimum wage but could not afford an apartment.
"I think this is the right thing to do," said Burnett, who originally supported a raise to $15 but says he changed his mind to support a $13 wage. "We're not going to die. Everybody's not going to die. Everything's not going to close up."
The $13 plan was one of three competing ordinances on the table at Monday's meeting. The ordinance would bump Chicago's minimum wage from $8.25 to $10 beginning July 1, 2015. The wage would then gradually increase until hitting $13 in 2019. After that, increases would be pegged to inflation.
The special meeting fulfills Emanuel's earlier promise to put the issue on the council agenda before the year is over. A minimum wage increase also could bolster his image among progressives, a group he needs to win over in February's election.
Passage of a local wage hike gets Chicago ahead of Illinois. The General Assembly in Springfield has been considering a statewide minimum wage ordinance that could include language prohibiting municipalities from setting their citywide wages above the state's minimum wage.
"I think having the vote happen this week in Chicago is important because it is a very clear message to Springfield to say, 'Back off, you don't get to take away Chicago's wages,'" said Amisha Patel, the executive director of Grassroots Collaborative, which has lobbied to raise the minimum wage.
Voters said they decisively supported a minimum wage increase in the November election, when two-thirds answered "yes" to a non-binding ballot question about whether the wage should be raised to $10. Another non-binding question on the March ballot in select Chicago precincts asked whether the city's wage should be hiked to $15 for large businesses; it passed with more than 80 percent of the vote.
But a Chicago-only wage could make the city less competitive and complicate the business climate, said Theresa Mintle, CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.
"We are standing with other business organizations in Chicago and in Illinois in support of a state solution to the minimum wage debate that's going on right now," Mintle said before Monday's meeting. "We will stand up and basically say that if the Chicago City Council acts ... before the General Assembly gets to act, we will not support that action."
The $13 proposal had another vocal critic in Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), who said small businesses in his neighborhood oppose the measure.
"The companies are going to raise prices and reduce labor. It will have an inflationary effect," said Tunney, who owns the Ann Sather restaurants on the North Side. "These are people that open their door with risk and capital and their own blood, sweat and tears."