City Council upholds Mayor Johnson’s veto of freeze on tipped wage hikes; approves taxi fare hike
By Todd Feurer, Sabrina Franza, Lauren Victory
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CHICAGO, Illinois (WBBM) — The City Council on Wednesday failed to override Mayor Brandon Johnson’s veto of an ordinance that would have stopped scheduled pay hikes for tipped workers in Chicago.
The proposal, approved by the City Council last month on a 30-18 vote, would freeze tipped wages at the current rate of $12.62 per hour. Alders would need 34 votes to override Johnson’s veto, but fell short with a 30-19 vote on Wednesday.
With the mayor’s veto upheld, tipped workers in Chicago will see their minimum wage increase on July 1, 2026, to 84% of the full minimum wage, which currently stands at $16.60 per hour. The city’s minimum wage increases every year on July 1 by 2.5% or matching the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower, so it’s not yet clear how much those wages will increase in July.
In 2023, the City Council approved the “One Fair Wage Ordinance” to gradually increase the wage for tipped workers to the full minimum wage by July 1, 2028. It was one of Johnson’s first signature wins for his progressive agenda.
“Making sure that people can afford their rent and pay their bills and put food in their refrigerator is not a politically correct thing to do, it’s a human thing to do, it’s a just thing to do, it’s the right thing to do,” said Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th), the chief sponsor of the One Fair Wage ordinance.
Before the ordinance passed, businesses were allowed to pay tipped workers 60% of the standard minimum wage. If tipped workers’ wages and tips do not add up to the full minimum wage, employers must make up the difference.
Restaurant owners said the mandated raises actually wound up hurting employees — with hours reduced, jobs cut, and customer prices raised to keep up with the required payments.
But Mayor Brandon Johnson vetoed the freeze, calling it “tone deaf and shortsighted.”
Despite the City Council’s failure to override Johnson’s veto, both sides vowed to continue efforts to find ways to support small restaurants struggling to stay open with higher wages for tipped workers.
“They’re reducing hours, and they’re reducing staff, and that’s not what we want. That’s counterproductive. We want restaurants flourishing. We want people working,” said Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), who was among the alders voting to override the mayor’s veto.
Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) said the mandated pay increases for tipped workers are harming the city’s restaurant industry.
“This is not a myth. This is not something that they just made up. We have data that shows it’s harming Chicago, and so that’s why we have to stand up today and do what’s right instead of doing what’s politically we think is correct,” he said.
Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th), who supported the One Fair Wage Ordinance when it passed in 2023, but supported overriding the mayor’s veto of freezing pay hikes for tipped workers, criticized her colleagues for not finding a compromise to help support smaller restaurants while still phasing out lower wages for tipped workers.
“What is so disheartening about all of this is you’re sitting in a City Council full of organizers, and what we should have done was have both sides come together a long time ago and have the conversation, because now we’re in this who is right and who is wrong? And neither one.” she said. “I want tipped workers to get paid, I want them to make a living wage, but I also don’t want to see the Soulés and the Virtues and those small businesses close either, and so where is the compromise?”
Johnson, however, said there was a compromise on the One Fair Wage Ordinance before it passed, noting he and his allies originally planned to phase out the lower wage for tipped workers over three years, but agreed to a five-year phase out at the request of the Illinois Restaurant Association.
“We didn’t shove this raise down, you know, to shove them through, right? It’s why there’s a five-year gradual increase, and that did demonstrate compromise. These individuals were at the table,” Johnson said.
However, even with the five-year phase out of lower wages for tipped workers, the Illinois Restaurant Association has opposed the One Fair Wage Ordinance from the beginning.
Fuentes said talks are planned next week between leaders in the restaurant industry and backers of the tipped wage hike.
“There’s a lot that can be done here. It’s going to take different levels of government. I’m committed to making sure that we support workers and that we support industry,” she said.
Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia said he’ll be at the meeting.
“Let’s just talk about it. Let’s communicate. Right now, I’m worried about our small independent restaurants, and making sure we don’t see more empty storefronts throughout our great city,” he said.
Chicago City Council approves first taxi fare hike since 2016 Meantime, the City Council approved the city’s first taxi cab fare hike in a decade. Some drivers told CBS News Chicago they are appreciative, but others say it is too little, too late.
Cab drivers have seen the value of their taxi medallions — the required city licenses — plummet. Cab driver Mohamed Ali bought his medallion for $25,000 several years ago, but it’s now worth only $6,000. City records show, before Uber and Lyft began operating in Chicago in 2012 and 2013, respectively, medallions often sold for as much as $350,000 or more.
Lyft and Uber have far fewer regulations than taxis in Chicago. Ride-hailing services can charge higher fares and have normalized surge pricing during peak demand periods, all while cabbies can only charge what the city allows.
As for the fare bump, it would mean about 20% more for a ride, with a $2.50 rush hour fee between 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. There would also be a $1 overnight fee from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Alders also were set to vote on a proposal to ban extremism from within the ranks of the Chicago Police Department, but that vote was delayed until next month.
More than a few officers have been investigated in the past for ties to the Proud Boys and other anti-government groups.
The proposal would block all members of the Chicago Police Department from “advocating, engaging in or supporting the overthrow of any federal, state, or local government of the United States.”
Alders approve settlement with man who spent 19 years in prison for wrongful conviction The council also approved a $9.5 million settlement with a man who spent 19 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of murder.
Carl Reed was sentenced to 27 years in prison in 2005 for the killing of 66-year-old Kim Van Vo, who had been stabbed 11 times in his apartment at an assisted living facility.
Reed suffers from severe cognitive difficulties and learning disabilities, and according to his lawsuit, police obtained his confession after “shackling him to a wall on a bare, metal bench for 55 hours—denying him diabetes medication, physically beating him, and psychologically torturing him until he signed a prewritten confession that he could not even read.”
The lawsuit claims the lead detective, Richard Zuley, has “a truly disturbing track record of procuring false confessions.”
It also noted that no physical evidence tied Reed to Van Vo’s murder, stating Reed had no blood on his clothes and no injuries on his hands, even though Van Vo was stabbed to death with a five-inch blade with no handle.
After his conviction, forensic testing of evidence at the crime scene – including the knife blade, a towel covering Van Vo’s face, and hairs in Van Vo’s hands – could not be linked to Reed.
In April 2020, Gov. JB Pritzker commuted Reed’s sentence, and three years later, Cook County prosecutors agreed to drop all charges against him.
In other business on Wednesday, the council also tapped Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) to serve as chair of the Zoning Committee, which has been without a permanent chair since former Ald. Walter Burnett resigned from the council last summer. Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th), the Zoning Committee’s vice chair, has been serving as interim chair since Burnett’s departure, and had sought the permanent seat, but the council went with Villegas instead.
Ald. Derrick Curtis (18th) was installed as chair of the Economic Development Committee, replacing Villegas.
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