Tribune: Aldermen introduce plan to hike Chicago's minimum wage to $15 in 2021

Introduced in today's session of the Chicago City Council:

Chicago’s minimum wage would increase to $15 in 2021, four years earlier than in the rest of the state, under a proposal aldermen introduced to the City Council on Wednesday.

South Side Ald. Sophia King, 4th, said the higher cost of living in the city than downstate makes the quicker bump necessary. “That is why we are here today,” King said at a news conference to announce the ordinance.

The “Raise Chicago” ordinance would increase the city’s minimum wage to $14 on July 1, 2020, and to $15 on July 1, 2021.

New Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been supportive of the idea of a $15 Chicago minimum wage.

While business groups have argued that the higher wages could lead to layoffs, King said studies have shown no impact on employment levels as minimum wages go up.

In the rest of the state, the minimum wage is expected to go up to $15/hr by 2025. In the city mimimum wage is expected to max out at $13/hr by next month.

Capitol Fax: Plenty of blame to go around on minimum wage

Rich Miller's syndicated column posted to his blog this morning was regarding the push for a minimum wage hike in the state. Of course as well as know last week the Chicago City Council passed a minimum wage hike of their own and will be signed into law by Mayor Emanuel.

That being said locally 6th Ward Alderman Sawyer had been in favor of a hike and put out a statement in support of the minimum wage ordinance after its approval. He had also been out with the Fight for 15 crowd in support of a hike.

Regardless now that the city has supported a hike of their own and the state hasn't been able to pass one of their own what are you thoughts on this?

Do you think it will hurt small businesses? Do you think this will help out those low-wage employees at many of these corporate service-industry establishments? Do you think our young people who need work experience would be adversely impacted by this hike?

Ward Room: Aldermen Back Referendum for $15 Minimum Wage

Do you agree with this?

Saying it’s “time to act”, a group of Chicago aldermen, along with advocacy groups, low-wage workers and community members, are backing a set of city referendums on the March 18 ballot calling for a higher minimum wage.

All eight members of the City Council’s Progressive Reform Coalition, along with Aldermen Joe Moreno (1), Will Burns (4) and Jason Ervin (28), are backing the measure. Last year, a coalition of advocacy groups worked to place a non-binding referendum on the March ballot to establish a minimum wage in Chicago.

The referendum asks if the city should require a minimum wage of $15 per hour for employees of companies with an annual gross revenues in excess of $50 million.

Together, the aldermen and advocates argue that a higher wage is needed for working families to survive on the kinds of minimum wage jobs that prevalent throughout the economy and are often the primary or only option for workers.

Currently, a full-time minimum wage worker in Chicago only earns $17,000 a year, while a majority of Chicago’s low-wage workers are over the age of 30 and over half live in households receiving all of their income from low-wage jobs, according to a 2012 report by the Women Employed and Action Now Institute.

Walmart reaches deal for 'dozens' of new Chicago stores

Greg Hinz:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and a group of Chicago aldermen late Monday announced a deal under which the discount retailer would open dozens of new stores in the city, contribute $20 million to local charities and pay workers a minimum of $8.75 an hour.

   The pact, announced by South Side Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) and others, does not appear to have the support of organized labor, at least not now.

   But given what the deal would bring Chicago, union backing may not be needed.

   At a City Hall press conference, Hank Mullany, president of Walmart's northern U.S. vision outlined a goody-filled package that the retailer clearly hopes will win the backing of a majority of aldermen, who earlier had blocked much smaller expansion plans.

You know I do believe I got a press release in the e-mail from PR reps of Wal-Mart. I won't excerpt the whole thing but some of it is of note:

• Open several dozen stores across the City of varying size and format. This will not only address Chicago’s double-digit commercial vacancy rate but, more importantly, provide customers with more convenient access to affordable groceries, especially those 600,000 residents living within Chicago’s three, self-identified food deserts;

• Create approximately 10,000 associate positions and 2,000 unionized construction jobs, helping to offset the City’s 11.4-percent unemployment rate;

• Generate more than $500 million in sales and property taxes, providing a much-needed revenue boost to a wide range of City and county services;

• Pay competitive wages at all levels, for Walmart associates across Chicagoland;

• Develop charitable partnerships in Chicago worth $20 million that work to eradicate hunger, curb youth violence and help all Chicago residents live better.

It approximated what was already seen in Greg Hinz' blog post. There's one more item to look at from Clout City, also from there note this Community Benefits Memo (PDF) from Wal-Mart regarding the future Pullman store.

Ninth Ward alderman Anthony Beale says it’s “very likely” his plan for a new Walmart in Pullman will come before the City Council's zoning committee this Thursday, and he says he’s optimistic he has the votes to advance it, partly because of a "community benefits agreement" that Walmart officials have put together to try to appease critics of the pay and benefits it offers workers.

But the agreement so far includes little beyond general promises Beale made to the Chicago Plan Commission when it approved the development in April.

Beale insists the company is strengthening its commitment to paying above-market wages. “This makes it more concrete,” Beale says. “It’s a legal document.”
...
It includes a lot of vague language, such as a pledge to “encourage” the site’s contractor to employ more minority-owned businesses than it has to legally. The agreement also states that Walmart will “recommend” that the general contractor work with unions to build the new store, and it says the big-box retailer “will work with local community groups and the mayor’s Office of Workforce Development to source candidates who are interested, qualified and eligible.”

Noticeably absent from the agreement is any mention of a “living wage” of $11.03, which some union-friendly aldermen have been demanding. The memo does include a “Wages & Benefits” section, but it only states that Walmart offers “competitive market salaries” and a “comprehensive benefits package” to its associates.
“This is a community benefits agreement,” Beale says. “This is not a union community benefits agreement.”

Beale says the Pullman agreement was compiled from similar documents that were created for the city's one existing Walmart, on the west side, and another proposed for Chatham. Beale says it also takes into account community feedback he received during 60 community meetings that were held to discuss the retailer's expansion into Pullman.

The odds of this one getting approved not only by the zoning committee of the city council but by the full city council seems to have always been better than Ald. Brookins attempt to build a Wal-Mart near 83rd & Stewart. Is it merely a matter of time or we'll see an even bigger fight for this store I wish I can say for certain!

State minimum wage going up a quarter

Sun-Times:

Many workers will see a bit more in their paychecks when Illinois' minimum wage rises 25 cents an hour to $8 an hour Wednesday -- the second of a three-phase increase that will reach $8.25 July 1, 2010.

It means $520 a year more for a full-time minimum-wage earner. The Illinois Retail Merchants Association says it will cost employers, on average, an additional 30 cents an hour, for a total of $8.90. That's because the employer must pay benefits based on a percentage of the wage, so costs rise for Social Security, Medicare, workers' compensation and insurance, for example, said IRMA spokesman Peter Gill.

Some bemoan hike in wages

BND.com:

Eric Wortham [owner of Pizza World in Granite City, IL], said he is more than happy to pay his employees as well as he can but believes that in the long run, the rate increase often is passed on to the consumer and can hurt business and ultimately those working for minimum wage.

"I don't think it does the kids any good," Wortham said. "It looks good for political reasons. Increasing the minimum wage sounds great, but the same kids they're trying to help, they are actually hurting."

He and other Illinois employers are about to be subjected July 1 to the second of three annual minimum wage hikes. On July 1, 2010, another scheduled 25-cent increase will push up the state's minimum wage to $8.25 an hour.

Although he did not increase his prices after last year's wage increase, Wortham said he will have to do it this time around.

"It affected my bottom line," he said. "This time, I will have to take a small increase. I may have to go up 10 percent across the board in product, but that may be lower than what other national pizza restaurants will have to do."

Wortham also said that the series of wage hikes that recently ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich pushed and then signed into law in November 2006 is a political ploy to drive up state tax receipts.

"When they increase the prices, more sales tax revenue will go to government establishments," he said. "It's a tax increase on the middle class."

Any local business owners concerned about this impending minimum wage increase?

Minimum wage increase makes workers happy, business owners - not so much

From BND.com:

Brandon McMurray will not be getting a raise tomorrow.

The 23-year-old cashier at Pantera's Pizza in the Montclaire Shopping Center in Edwardsville already makes more than minimum wage because of his four years at the pizzeria.

"It's one of those things," McMurray said. "I've been here for a while and make enough over that. It would be nice to make a little more."

But when Illinois' minimum wage officially increases Tuesday, some of his co-workers will be making a little more than they did before.

"They're excited for it," McMurray said. "Every little bit that you can get helps out."

"With prices going up, and with gas prices at $4, everybody can use a little more cash these days."

His boss, Jeff Tolliver, on the other hand, isn't looking forward to the wage increase. It's not that Tolliver doesn't want to pay his employees more, but rather the pressure it puts on the cost of doing business.

"I have to pass it on to customers, and that's not really good for anybody," he said.

This year's quarter increase in Illinois -- from $7.50 an hour to $7.75 -- won't raise much fuss, Tolliver said, but when the state minimum wage went up from $6.50 to $7.50 last year, some of his current employees were asking for a raise.

"It's really bad for morale, and already we're in a high-turnover industry," Tolliver said. "This really doesn't help anything. It puts pressure on prices. Everything is going up as it is. Automatically, the minimum wage goes up also. It just makes a bad situation worse, to be quite honest."

Illinois will raise its minimum wage for the fourth time in as many years Tuesday with 25-cent rate increases scheduled for each of the next two years. By July 1, 2010, Illinois workers will be earning $8.25 an hour, which by then could become the highest minimum wage in the country.

The series of wage hikes has been championed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who pushed the initiative through the General Assembly. The new $7.75 wage is estimated to generate an additional $520 in annual wages for full-time minimum wage earners -- to a new total of $16,120 annually for a worker on a 40-hour week. The governor has cited that at this time of economic crisis, the minimum wage increase will help Illinois workers support their families and help them afford basic necessities.

Read the whole thing. I found the article via Newsalert. And while you're there check out this post on Cook County's sales tax. This sales tax at 10.25% is touted as the highest in the nation.