Chicago City Council to vote on $13 minimum wage Tuesday

CHICAGO (WLS) -- At Chicago City Hall, a vote to increase the city's minimum wage to $13 an hour is moving forward. The measure cleared a council committee on Monday night. The full council is having a special meeting Tuesday morning to vote on it.

The Workforce Development Committee met Monday as business owners turn out en masse to oppose the mayor's plan to raise the city's minimum wage to $13 an hour.

Small business owners crowded the hallway outside the council chamber on Monday afternoon. A spokesman told them a higher Chicago minimum wage rate could backfire on city workers.

"Fewer jobs will be available and there will be more competition for those jobs from suburban residents," said Sam Toi, Illinois Restaurant Association.

But most committee members weren't buying.

"Every single time that we talk about the minimum wage increase, businesses come and say it's a job killer, a job killer, a job killer. We know it's not," said 22nd Ward Ald. Ricardo Munoz.

To help the city's working poor, Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants the Chicago rate raised gradually from the current $8.25 an hour to $13 an hour by 2019.

"We have to make sure that a paycheck gets from the first of the month all the way to the 30th, 31st of the month," Emanuel said.

But opponents say $13 is too much, and worry that businesses in wards along the city limits will not be competitive.

"When these businesses leave, they will take property and sales tax revenues with them," said 19th Ward Ald. Matt O'Shea.

Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle supports a higher minimum wage but does not favor a city only increase.

"For me, the best thing would be to have the same minimum wage rate in the entire county," Preckwinkle said.

"Chicagoans need 15, but 13 is a good place to start," said Katelyn Johnson, Action Now.

As increase supporters held their own rally at City Hall, lawmakers in Springfield are quietly considering a bill to prohibit cities from imposing a minimum wage higher than the state rate.

"The state could come in and pre-empt retroactively," said Rob Karr, Illinois Retail Merchants Association.

But if the council passes a higher Chicago rate, some aldermen doubt lawmakers who represent the city would vote to roll it back.

"The idea of pre-empting Chicago's ability to raise the minimum wage puts those guys in a very difficult position," said 4th Ward Ald. Will Burns.

Chicago's current minimum wage is $8.25 an hour. The proposed measure would hike the minimum wage to $10 an hour next year, and then gradually increase it to $13 by 2019.