The Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago, the union of fast food and retail workers, responded in a press release yesterday:
Any recommendation that is less than $15 is an insult to the hundreds of fast food workers that have risked their jobs and made sacrifices for the well-being of this city. Chicago fast food workers will not sit back and wait for politicians to act, we will continue to bring our fight to the $200 billion a year fast food industry until we win.The WOOC is part of a coalition that includes: Action Now; Albany Park Neighborhood Council; Arise Chicago; Brighton Park Neighborhood Council; Chicago Coalition for the Homeless; Chicago Jobs with Justice; Chicago Teachers Union; Grassroots Collaborative; Illinois Hunger Coalition; Jane Addams Senior Caucus; ONE Northside; Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP); SEIU Local 1; SEIU Local 73; SEIU Healthcare Illinois; Indiana, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation; United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America Western Region; and Workers United.
In the Chicago metro area there are 80,930 frontline fast food workers. An adult with one child needs to make $20.86 an hour working full time in the Chicago area just to afford the basics, according to a model developed by a professor at MIT.
Supporters on the City Council include Progressive Caucus members: Fioretti (2nd); Roderick Sawyer (6th); Toni Foulkes (15th); Ricardo Munoz (22nd); Scott Waguespack (32nd); Nick Sposato (36th) and John Arena (45th) along with Walter Burnett (27th), Jason Ervin (28th), and “Proco” Joe Moreno (1st).
Moreno points to a study by the Center for Popular Democracy that showed that a $15-an-hour wage paid by large Chicago companies alone would impact 510,000 working Chicagoans, spur $616 million in economic activity, generate $45 million in new sales tax revenue and create 5,350 new jobs.
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