Oct. 27--Mayor Rahm Emanuel's efforts to position himself as a champion of higher wages continued Monday with his administration's announcement that the Chicago Housing Authority has agreed to his suggestion to require contractors and subcontractors to pay workers at least $13 an hour.
The CHA's decision to honor the $13 wage comes after Emanuel said last month that he had asked the city's sister agencies -- the Public Building Commission, Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago City Colleges and the Chicago Park District, in addition to the CHA -- to adopt the standard.
The CTA also has set the $13 pay floor for contractors and subcontractors, according to Emanuel's office. The mayor signed an executive order in early September requiring city of Chicago contractors and subcontractors to pay at least $13.
CHA and CTA officials could not be reached for comment Monday morning.
Emanuel's order was largely symbolic, affecting about 1,000 contracted employees, typically landscapers, maintenance workers, security officers, concessionaires and custodians. Many city contract employees who would see their pay go up to $13 an hour were already being paid $11.93 an hour under a city living wage ordinance adopted under Mayor Richard M. Daley.
The Emanuel administration estimated that if all sister agencies require $13 for contractors, roughly 2,400 employees would see their hourly pay go up.
The pay issue is prominent this election season in Illinois and across the country, as Democrats try to use the push for higher minimum wages to drive supporters to the polls. Emanuel has adopted the wage issue, a favorite with progressives, which could help inoculate him against criticism on the topic from an opponent in the February city election like Ald. Bob Fioretti.
Voters across Illinois on Nov. 4 will have the chance to weigh in on a nonbinding referendum asking whether the statewide minimum wage should be increased to $10 from $8.25. Emanuel has said that regardless of whether state lawmakers act on that recommendation, he plans to ask the City Council to adopt a plan he supports to raise the minimum wage across Chicago to $13 by 2018.
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