A proposed increase in Evanston’s minimum wage requirement was dropped after failing to garner support for annual increases.
Councilmember Devon Reid pulled the proposal after a failure to add back a previously striken part of the ordinance that required annual increases.
“I’m not going to do a performative, BS minimum wage increase that’s not going to do a damn thing for folks,” he said.
Reid proposed the ordinance to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15.50 for businesses with four to 99 employees and $16.25 for businesses with 100 or more employees along with an amendment to add back a provision that would add an annual increase of 2.5% or match the area CPI, whichever is lower.
This requirement would also be automatically dropped if the unemployment rate reached over a certain threshold, according to the amendments Reid proposed.
This provision of the ordinance was dropped during previous discussions, but Reid stressed the importance of having annual increases to keep up with growing inflation.
Councilmember Bobby Burns was the lone supporter of adding back the increase provision, saying the city should fall in line with other entities that have similar increases such as Chicago.
“In some cases we want to be leaders and then in some cases we’re like, ‘Well, who else is doing it?’ We want to follow exactly what they’re doing,” Burns said. “Let’s do that here.”
Councilmembers Jonathan Nieuwsma and Clare Kelly expressed concern about the impact the annual increase would have on small businesses. Reid explained he put the proposal forward to target large companies like Target who employ Evanston residents, and said he would be willing to adjust the employee number thresholds in order to get the amendment passed.
Kelly pointed out that if passed, Evanston’s minimum wage would expand beyond its closest neighbors Wilmette and Skokie, possibly leading to local businesses moving elsewhere. Nieuwsma said he would support the overall increase but not annual increases. He also argued the ordinance would increase Evanston’s minimum wage beyond even Chicago, whose minimum wage sits at $15.79 with annual increases.
“I don’t want to continually ensure we are the highest,” Nieuwsma said. “We are not unfamiliar with the conundrum that our geographic location brings to a lot of deliberations. Are we going to follow Chicago or are we going to follow the suburbs?”
The proposal has been making its way through city government since last year. It was tabled during the Jan. 8 City Council meeting to give city staff time to gather feedback from local businesses. Local business owners voiced disapproval for the increase with some saying change should be made at higher levels of government and others explaining they are still struggling post COVID-19.
