After a months-long public campaign that began shortly after Mayor Brandon Johnson (right) took office in May, advocates reached a deal with restaurant industry lobbyists to phase out the tipped-minimum wage over five years.
"The closest pending victory is in Chicago," said Saru Jayaraman, founder and president of the advocacy group One Fair Wage.
Three-fourths said they would reduce the number of tipped workers on their payroll, and nearly half said the cuts would be significant.
The $9.48 an hour wage most workers got cost the restaurant $5,449.61, he said, a fraction of the $17,198 in tips workers earned.
That's one reason why the restaurant industry engaged in a kind of bidding war against itself, to find a compromise solution that politicians like Alderman Carlos Ramirez Rosa, Johnson's floor manager in the City Council, would buy.
Persons:
Brandon Johnson, Scott Weiner, Covid, Hornick, Danny Meyer, Meyer, Chicago –, Saru Jayaraman, Michael Hornick hasn't, Callahan, That's, Weiner, Rick Rick Bayless, Topolobampo, Bayless, He's, –, We've, We're, Johnson —, Democratic Socialist Alliance —, Alderman Carlos Ramirez Rosa, Sam Toia, Rosa
Organizations:
U.S . Department of Labor, Chicago, Illinois Restaurant Association, City Council, Chicago's, Wrigley, Farm, Frontera Grill, Michelin, Covid, Bar, Frontera, Frontera Group, Democratic Socialist Alliance, Chicago Sun, Times, Times , Illinois Restaurant, CNBC, Sun
Locations:
downtown, Chicago, York, Covid, Lakeview, Evanston, Frontera, Johnson's, City, Times ,