Chicago, Illinois Minimum Wage

If you are a big employer in the city of Chicago, Illinois—particularly if you manage one of those big superstores, or big boxes as some people call them, the likes of Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe’s, etc.—then you might want to start paying attention to what you city lawmakers are doing. At current, there is a movement to get an ordinance passed in the city of Chicago that would raise the minimum wage just for employees at these superstores to $10 per hour. This would not be the first time that this ordinance and idea have come up.

Supporters of the special minimum wage, however, say that the general public supports such a law. They have done an analysis of 47,000 voters, they say, and that 80 percent of those surveyed said that they would support a minimum wage just for employees of superstores in the Chicago city limits.

Last time the ordinance came up, the mayor of the city, Mayor Richard Daly, vetoed the ordinance and prevented it from coming into law. That time, however, his veto was almost overrode in the city council, where the supporters of the minimum wage only came up short by two votes to override the veto.

Opponents of the new minimum wage say that it could scare away other superstores from opening shop in the city of Chicago, and that would hurt all employees because they wouldn’t even have jobs at that point. One such superstore, according to one of the opponents of the minimum wage, an alderman by the name of Emma Mitts, created more than 450 new jobs.

No word yet on whether or not employers in Chicago would then need to get a special minimum wage labor law poster if the new law passes. I will try to find out for you and get back to you with the info as soon as possible.