CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) — Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson angrily lashed out at aldermen who voted to freeze the city’s five-year initiative to raise the minimum wage for servers and other restaurant and bar workers who receive tips, and said he will veto that freeze.
The mayor called the 30-18 vote to maintain a minimum hourly wage for tipped workers of $12.62 during Wednesday’s City Council meeting “shameful” and “discouraging,” and said it hurts people in the service industry who he said are overwhelmingly women of color, and already struggling to make ends meet.
He also told reporters after the meeting the outcome was surprising given successes in the previous day’s primary elections by progressive candidates including U.S. Senate nominee and Lieutenant Gov. Juliana Stratton, whose platform includes a call for a $25 an hour national minimum wage…