The business owners can take the initiative and raise the wages instead of waiting for nanny government.
Progressive small-business owners in Chicago voiced their support Monday for raising the minimum wage, but most said the move would still cost them.
They agreed that neither they nor their employees can live on minimum wage, especially if they live in Chicago, and that it’s essential to have “happy” employees. Satisfied employees are productive, more loyal, stay on the job longer and have no need to report to work exhausted because they’re working second and third jobs to pay the bills, said the seven small-business owners who spoke Monday at Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s invitation during a roundtable at Dimo’s Pizza in the Wicker Park neighborhood.
Emanuel set the stage to rally support for his proposed ordinance, to be introduced to City Council on Wednesday, to boost the city’s minimum wage to $13 an hour by 2018. The minimum wage currently is $7.25 an hour at the federal level and $8.25 in Illinois.
Emanuel’s proposed ordinance also calls for a $1 increase over two years in the minimum wage governing tips — from the current state minimum of $4.95 — and for the local minimum wage to retain existing state exemptions for workers under 18 and individuals undergoing training, among others.