'Pay your workers a living wage': Lawmakers consider ending sub-minimum wages in Illinois
Legislation is expected later this week that would end sub-minimum wages in Illinois, starting as early as next year.
The upgraded pay would mean those receiving the state tipped wage of $8.40 would earn the state minimum wage of $15 starting Jan. 1, 2025. It follows the city of Chicago, where workers receive the minimum wage of $15.80 plus tips, and seven other states that require full minimum wage.
Lawmakers and advocates with One Fair Wage, a national advocacy group pushing for all workers to receive at least minimum wage, gathered outside the Lincoln Statue Tuesday to champion the legislation. Saru Jayaraman, OFW president and co-founder, said tipped wages were rooted in the emancipation era when businesses were trying to pay Black workers essentially nothing.
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"In Europe, tipping was always an extra bonus on top of a wage," she said. "In the United States, it was mutated into a replacement for wages as a way to allow restaurants and railroads to hire Black people for free."
Leading the legislation will be state Rep. Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero, and Sen. Lakeisha Collins, D-Chicago, who say the bill will help businesses hire new workers.
The food and service industries were hit particularly hard by COVID-19 in Illinois, at one point losing more than 200,000 workers, and have yet to meet pre-pandemic numbers according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Collins, formerly of the House and replacing retired Sen. Patricia Van Belt, D-Chicago, in August, said the workload has fallen increasingly on workers often without improved pay to show for it.
"It's time for Springfield to bring the economic security to workers across the state," she said. "To do business in Illinois, you have to be able to pay your workers a living wage."
The Illinois Restaurant Association has already announced its opposition to the yet-to-be filed legislation and disagrees that it will increase pay for tipped workers. In a statement, the association said the bill will do "more harm than good."
"These changes will lead to job cuts, an increase in labor costs, and ultimately force restaurant owners to make difficult decisions that will negatively impact their workers and result in higher prices for customers," IRA said.
The press conference marked lawmakers' return to the state Capitol, kicking off week two of the spring session. Lawmakers will be in Springfield through Thursday.
Contact Patrick M. Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Illinois Restaurant Association opposed to bill ending subminimum wage
