Chicago City Council approves minimum wage hike

CHICAGO -- By next summer, Chicagoans earning minimum wage will receive $10 an hour. Business owners argued raising the minimum wage would cost thousands of jobs.

Chicago's City Council approved the ordinance, which raises the current $8.25 an hour to $13 an hour by 2019, with a 44 to 5 vote. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and dozens of aldermen sponsored the measure and called a special meeting to act before Illinois lawmakers could pass a measure preventing cities from setting minimum wages higher than that of the state.

The General Assembly returns to Springfield on Tuesday for the final week of its fall session. Legislators could vote on a plan to raise Illinois' $8.25-per-hour wage to $11 by 2017.

According to the city, about 410,000 Chicago workers will be impacted by the minimum wage increase. The city said it will inject millions into the local economy and lift 70,000 workers out of poverty.

"A higher minimum wage ensures that nobody who works in the City of Chicago will ever struggle to reach the middle class or be forced to raise their child in poverty," Mayor Emanuel said in a statement. "Today, Chicago has shown that our City is behind a fair working wage."

Sam Toia of the Illinois Restaurant Association called the ordinance a "double whammy."

"Fewer jobs will be available and there will be more competition for those jobs from suburban residents. Those workers will spend their earnings back in their own communities, not Chicago," Toia said.

Ill. Gov. Pat Quinn called it "the right thing to do for all hardworking families in our state."

Alderman Bob Fioretti, who is running against Emanuel in the next election, released a statement, "While I'm proud to support today's increase in the minimum wage, we can't stop fighting now. Rahm Emanuel could've pushed this legislation earlier, and he could've pushed for $15 an hour today."

Emanuel's other challenger in the February election, Chuy Garcia, questioned why Emanuel waited so long.