Preckwinkle: $15 an hour by 2021
The “Fight for $15” won’t be much of a fight if County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is elected mayor.
Preckwinkle on Tuesday outlined a plan to raise Chicago’s minimum wage — currently set at $12 an hour and due to rise to $13 an hour on July 1 — in 50-cent increments until it reaches $15 an hour “no later than July 2021 and possibly earlier” when the cost of living is factored in.
Once the $15-an-hour benchmark is reached, Chicago’s Office of Labor Standards would conduct an annual review of the minimum wage to “monitor economic conditions and living standards and propose further increases in the minimum wage as warranted.”
The newly created office would also be beefed up, paving the way for random audits to make certain Chicago employers are complying.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker campaigned on a promise to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. He renewed the promise in his inaugural address, calling it one of his top priorities.
That begs the question for Preckwinkle, an early Pritzker supporter: Why not wait for the state to do the heavy lifting to avoid putting Chicago at a competitive disadvantage in comparison with surrounding suburbs?
“Chicago’s the economic engine for the state. We can set our own economic policies. And furthermore, who knows when or whether the state’s gonna do anything?” Preckwinkle said.
Preckwinkle noted that the increase would affect 400,000 minimum-wage earners in Chicago, who now must work 80 hours a week “just to purchase basic necessities.”
“We have to ensure that working families are thriving and not just getting by. Fifteen dollars an hour takes a family of four just above the poverty line. We owe it to our workforce to try to ensure that people who work hard every day make enough to support their families,” she said.
Nearly all of the candidates vying to replace Mayor Rahm Emanuel favor raising Chicago’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Bill Daley and fired Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy are the exceptions.
“As a human being, I endorse a living wage. . . . I’d love to pay people a ton of money. But it’s really hard when I’m losing money. That’s going to really hurt small businesses, and it’s not going to have the effect that people expect,” said McCarthy, who has a private security company.
McCarthy noted that Preckwinkle’s mayoral campaign has been endorsed and bankrolled by SEIU, the Chicago Teachers Union and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 881.
Daley, the son and brother of Chicago mayors, said he wants to “complete the implementation” of a $13-an-hour minimum wage “before we discuss additional changes.”
Preckwinkle said her pledge was part of a “long-standing commitment” to progressive causes — not a political payback to the unions. Even so, SEIU Healthcare Illinois President Greg Kelley was quick to praise Preckwinkle’s plan to put “money right into the pockets of those most likely to go out and spend it.”
Editor’s note: Some unions and labor organizations have ownership stakes in Sun-Times Media, including the Service Employees International Union, Local No. 1 (SEIU Local 1).