WOODLAWN (WBBM Newsradio) -- Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson made good on his threat to veto an attempted freeze of the city's ordinance raising the minimum wage for restaurant servers and other tipped workers.
Supporters cheered as the mayor formally signed the veto ordinance Wednesday afternoon during an event at Let's Eat To Live, 621 E. 67th St, in this South side community.
Aldermen approved an ordinance on March 18 pausing the city's five-year effort to eliminate the so-called "tip credit" that allows restaurant and bar owners to pay a lower wage to servers and other employees who customarily receive tips. The vote followed concerns from restaurant owners that the combination of higher wages and other increased costs were putting small businesses in a position to reduce hours or staffing, or close entirely.
Before signing the veto, the mayor said aldermen who supported the wage freeze voted against working people in favor of the wealthy , who he said President Trump made richer with the stroke of a pen last year.
"With the stroke of a pen in a very soon moment, I'm gonna make sure that working people get paid in our city," he said to cheers from the group assembled behind him.
He also pushed back on claims from restaurant industry groups about the financial damage they say is being done by the tip credit phase-out, citing figures from his administration suggesting restaurant license renewals have increased slightly in the city since it was adopted.
"There is little to no evidence to support the claim that this ordinance has led to restaurants closing," Johnson said.
The sponsor of the freeze ordinance, Northwest side alderwoman Samantha Nugent, said in a statement that wiping out the tip credit "risks fewer hours, fewer jobs, and added pressure on neighborhood restaurants."
"The veto ignores what we've heard from workers and small businesses across the city," Ald. Nugent (39th Ward) added in the statement released by the Illinois Restaurant Association.
And the owner of the restaurant that served as a backdrop for the mayor's veto announcement, Miss Carmela Mohammad, admitted the veto will cost her money, but suggested that the cost was worth it: "It does bring a little bit of weight on the restaurant, but we are being charged with taking care of our people."
The mayor's veto can be overriden if 34 aldermen vote to do so. An override vote is expected next month, and Ald. Nugent has said she believes the votes are there.
Dismisses hardship claims from restaurants; override bid next
