Emanuel signs order raising minimum wage for Chicago contract workers

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel signed an executive order requiring Chicago contractors and subcontractors to pay employees at least $13 an hour.

This is the first step toward securing a higher minimum wage for the city. He signed the order at Environmental Design International in the Loop.

About 400,000 people in Chicago make minimum wage. Emanuel's executive order should boost pay to $13 an hour for about 1,000 of them.

Local fast food workers who have staged dozens of protests and demonstrations demanding at least $15 an hour will not be affected by the mayor's executive order. It will apply primarily to landscapers, maintenance workers, security officers, concessionaires and custodial workers contracted by the city.

The order will impact city contracts advertised after Oct. 1, 2014.

The mayor introduced an ordinance to City Council in July that would raise the minimum wage from the current $8.25 an hour to $13 an hour by 2018.

A vote on that ordinance is not expected until after the November election. Aldermen are split on whether Emanuel's proposed minimum wage is too high or too low.