Illinois voters in 2014 overwhelmingly approved raising the state’s minimum wage to ten dollars an hour. Legislators never followed through on that referendum. Now unions are pushing for a 15-dollar wage.
The proposal, which passed a House committee, would raise Illinois’ minimum wage from $8.25 to 15 dollars an hour over five years.
Business groups are against any increase, but say 15 dollars an hour would hurt the economy. They say employers would have to cut worker hours.
Except, Aiesha Mclaurin says Burger King already cut her hours — from 35 down to 10.
“They said quote-unquote, labor was too high, but how was labor too high if you’re giving somebody else my hours.”
Republican Representative Jeanne Ives, from Wheaton, opposes an increase. She agrees no adult should be stuck in a minimum wage job, but the problem isn’t with businesses, it’s with Illinois schools and parenting.
