If Chicago has a minimum wage, why is there a "sub minimum wage"? Minimum is minimum.

And even a minimum wage isn't a living wage.

According to the City of Chicago’s web page, as of July 1, 2023, the minimum wage in Chicago is $15.80 per hour for employers with 21 or more workers, and $15.00 per hour for employers with 4 to 20 workers.

Tip workers have a minimum wage of $9.00 for employers with 4 to 20 workers, and $9.48 for employers with 21 or more workers. If a tipped worker’s wages plus tips do not equal at least the full minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.

As of July 1, 2023, the minimum wage to be paid under City contracts or concessionaire agreements is $16.80 per hour. When applying an allowance for gratuities to the wage of City concessionaire employees in positions that customarily receive gratuities, the resulting rate is $8.80 per hour. 

This is stupid. A minimum wage should be a minimum wage. And really the current minimum has absolutely no relationship to a living wage.

But why is there a sub minimum wage for tip workers?

I have friends who think tipping is a way to give a reward for good service when they go out to eat. I think that’s nonsense.

That’s not the way it works for any other business.

If I get shitty service at Mariano’s I might complain to management and I might not go back again.

Don’t like a plumber? Don’t hire them again.

When did you last tip your doctor?

The worker’s at Mariano’s have a union contract and they get know what their paycheck will look like.

They can plan their life. Create a budget.

I know folks complain about the tip jars that seem to have become ubiquitous.

But I don’t complain.

In fact, at the bagel place I go to I tip 20% and have for years. And the result is that the guys will usually toss in a few extra bagels at no cost.

What ever the history is that gave rise to sub minimum wages to tip workers, we should dump it.

An ordinance introduced in the Chicago City Council this week would end the sub minimum wage and guarantee all workers the same hourly pay of $15.80.

I couldn’t afford a Megaball lottery ticket with that, but it’s better.

If passed businesses would be required to meet the new pay requirements by July 1, 2025, according to the ordinance.

That’s two years from now, like there’s no rush.

At a pre-Council press conference Wednesday Alder Jesse Fuentes said the sub minimum wage practice “is rooted in slave labor, white supremacy and racism.”

I think she has a point.

I should disclose that I worked in both the food service industry and as a taxi driver and I was dependent on tips.

My experience was that rich people make the worst tippers.

And sex workers make the best ones.

It was too bad that the Chicago City Council didn’t act on the ordinance this week.

While the measure was formally introduced Wednesday, Alder Anthony Beale was able to send the ordinance to the Council’s rules committee, where legislation typically goes to die.

You can always count on Alder Beale.

But Mayor Johnson and the progressives in the City Council are promising to bring it back and pass it.

Maybe before two years from now?