Global Cop
Big Box Law Becomes Small Box?
Mayor Daley vetoed the Chicago City Council's attempt to saddle only "big box" retailers with a new higher minimum wage law. The sponser of the vetoed bill, Alderman Joe Moore, happens to be my alderman (as well as the sponser of the foie gras ban, which is law now).
Moore's response to his bills defeat was to state that he will introduce a new bill, perhaps as soon as next Wednesday's Council meeting (20SEP06) that will expand his "living wage" to retailers with only 1000 employees. When asked by a reporter if the one thousand employee threshold covered only those employees within the city's borders, or would impact businesses who may only have a dozen employees in Chicago but 988 across the globe. The look on his face indicated to me that he hadn't thought much about that. Erring on the side of not offending SEIU, he went with the latter.
I called his office last night and left a message asking if this would cover employees at City Collegs of Chicago(CCC), a tax-payer funded institution that has many employees making less than Moore's "living wage."
Ald. Moore phone returned my call at 7:45 this morning and explained that his intention was that it only cover retail stores. With my face still buried in my pillow I thanked him for his prompt reply and muttered something like, "Ok, but don't forget those people too." He said he'd consider the idea; I said I'd keep an eye on the news for developments.
Now that I've had my coffee, it occurs to me that it seems a bit disengenous to pass a law that requires private employers to pay their workers a "living wage" while the city itself (and their sister agencies) can pay their employees less.
I can imagine the drop in morale as the already under-paid clericals at the city's community colleges watch thousands of their fellow Chicagoans get raises while they are ignored. Add to that the inevitable inflation of forcing so many Chicago retailers to raise their wages and we may end up hurting many more low-wage workers - both economically and psychologically - then are helped.
It will be interesting to see how the unions, who are fighting to represtent the part-timers at CCC, will react to this. More interestingly will be watching how the professional teachers union (FTA local 1600) reacts.
Moore's response to his bills defeat was to state that he will introduce a new bill, perhaps as soon as next Wednesday's Council meeting (20SEP06) that will expand his "living wage" to retailers with only 1000 employees. When asked by a reporter if the one thousand employee threshold covered only those employees within the city's borders, or would impact businesses who may only have a dozen employees in Chicago but 988 across the globe. The look on his face indicated to me that he hadn't thought much about that. Erring on the side of not offending SEIU, he went with the latter.
I called his office last night and left a message asking if this would cover employees at City Collegs of Chicago(CCC), a tax-payer funded institution that has many employees making less than Moore's "living wage."
Ald. Moore phone returned my call at 7:45 this morning and explained that his intention was that it only cover retail stores. With my face still buried in my pillow I thanked him for his prompt reply and muttered something like, "Ok, but don't forget those people too." He said he'd consider the idea; I said I'd keep an eye on the news for developments.
Now that I've had my coffee, it occurs to me that it seems a bit disengenous to pass a law that requires private employers to pay their workers a "living wage" while the city itself (and their sister agencies) can pay their employees less.
I can imagine the drop in morale as the already under-paid clericals at the city's community colleges watch thousands of their fellow Chicagoans get raises while they are ignored. Add to that the inevitable inflation of forcing so many Chicago retailers to raise their wages and we may end up hurting many more low-wage workers - both economically and psychologically - then are helped.
It will be interesting to see how the unions, who are fighting to represtent the part-timers at CCC, will react to this. More interestingly will be watching how the professional teachers union (FTA local 1600) reacts.
posted by Edward at 9/14/2006 01:12:00 PM
2 Comments:
It would be interesting to know how many government-owned facilities in the City of Chicago are over 90,000 square feet.
acorn, the allinskyite group behind this effort here and in other cities, actually sued the state of california for exemtion from the "living wage" law they seek to impose on others.
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