CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) -- Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson angrily lashed out at aldermen who voted to freeze the city's five-year initiative to raise the minimum wage for servers and other restaurant and bar workers who receive tips, and said he will veto that freeze.
The mayor called the 30-18 vote to maintain a minimum hourly wage for tipped workers of $12.62 during Wednesday's City Council meeting "shameful" and "discouraging," and said it hurts people in the service industry who he said are overwhelmingly women of color, and already struggling to make ends meet.
He also told reporters after the meeting the outcome was surprising given successes in the previous day's primary elections by progressive candidates including U.S. Senate nominee and Lieutenant Gov. Juliana Stratton, whose platform includes a call for a $25 an hour national minimum wage.
"People who are ostensibly Democrats said that Black and brown women who barely make $12 an hour, 'not for y'all?' There's like a real disconnect going on in City Council right now," the mayor said.
Northwest side Alderwoman Samantha Nugent led the freeze effort in response to concerns from restaurant owners, who she said are being forced to cut shifts and hours and raise prices.
"We want our restaurants to thrive and we need more workers in the back of the house," said Ald. Nugent (39th Ward), "and I think this ordinance is going to do just that."
Before the meeting, partisans on all sides of the issue lobbied City Council members through the stories of people who said they're being affected by the issue.
Eric Williams from Bronzeville Winery, 4420 S. Cottage Grove Ave., joined an appearance led by representatives of the city's restaurant industry in favor of the freeze. He told reporters that his business has already been pinched by changes in the city's wage law.
"We lost $60,000," Williams said of his restaurant's performance last year. "Of that, $40,000 was because of the One Fair Wage (law)."
He was joined by one of his servers, Shanell Oliver, who told reporters she's been getting fewer shifts and fewer hours since the wage law went into effect: "I'm taking home much less money, which is putting a real strain on my family."
But at a separate event, Taylar Tramil of the "Raise The Floor Alliance" said tipped workers are facing the same financial pressures as business owners and are much less able to weather higher inflation and similar challenges.
"We should not be forced to choose between supporting businesses and paying workers fairly. That's a false choice," Tramil said. "We should be able to do both."
And bartender and labor activist Raeghn Draper says freezing tipped workers' minimum wage at 76% of the city-wide minimum of $16.60 an hour would be deeply felt: "It would hurt thousands of workers in the city, the majority of whom are women, young people and Black and brown folks."
Ald. Nugent said the ordinance requires restaurant owners to pay servers the full minimum wage if their tips don't bring their pay to $16.60 an hour, but Draper noted that wage theft is workers number-one concern, and many victims don't report it for fear they'll be fired or will lose shifts.
Mayor Johnson told reporters he'll use every tool available to keep the freeze from taking effect, and later clarified he was talking about a veto: "If I gotta veto something to make sure Black and brown women are protected, then a veto it is. That is the only fair thing to do."
The 30 "aye" votes for the freeze are four short of the margin needed to override a potential veto. Ald. Nugent said she's not concerned: "You're gonna get more support if a veto does come."