Freezing subminimum wage for tipped workers 'irresponsible,' Mayor Johnson says

At a time when Chicago is becoming increasingly unaffordable for working-class residents, Mayor Brandon Johnson said Monday it would be “not only tone deaf, but irresponsible” for the City Council to stop phasing out the subminimum wage for tipped workers.

At Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Far Northwest Side Ald. Samantha Nugent (39th) plans to use a parliamentary maneuver to resurrect a stalled proposal that would freeze the subminimum wage at 24% of the $16.60 minimum wage paid to hourly Chicago workers who do not receive tips.

Without the freeze, tipped workers now paid $12.62 an hour would receive a raise to 16% of Chicago’s minimum wage. That amount is reset every July 1. With the freeze, they would still receive a raise, but it would be capped at 24% of whatever the minimum hourly wage turns out to be.

In 2023, the City Council approved a measure that phases out the subminimum wage for restaurant servers, bartenders and other tipped workers. That phaseout began in July 2024.

Nugent has argued that restaurant owners, particularly in wards like her own that border surrounding suburbs, can no longer afford the five-year phaseout at a time when rising property taxes, food and labor costs, on-again, off-again tariffs and increased license fees are eating into their razor-thin profits.

Johnson doesn’t buy that argument. Appearing Monday on WBEZ-FM’s monthly “Ask the Mayor” program, Johnson made it clear that he plans to fight to keep one of the signature wins of his progressive agenda.

“At a time in which … it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to afford to raise a family in this country — Democrats rolling back the wages of Black and Brown women — that is not only tone-deaf, but it’s irresponsible,” Johnson said. “Democrats have to pay attention to what the voters in the city of Chicago are calling for, and quite frankly, what voters across America are expecting from leadership."

Johnson said there is “uncertainty in the global economy” tied to the Iran war, the spike in oil prices that the war has triggered and, President Donald Trump’s on-again-off-again tariffs.

But he argued that the Chicago economy is doing fine, pointing to an 83% renewal rate for business licenses, a surge in summer travel to Chicago, and O’Hare Airport’s climb to the top of the charts as the nation’s busiest airport.

Far Southwest Side Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) said he's hearing just opposite "every time I walk into" a bar or restaurant in his border ward.

"They are hanging on by a thread. They ‘re employing less people, and in some cases, they’ve closed the doors. Businesses are looking to move to the suburbs,” O’Shea said. “This is an effort to assist the hospitality industry that is struggling in neighborhoods all across our city."

O’Shea scoffed at Johnson’s claim that freezing the tipped wage would be “tone-deaf” to the affordability crisis sweeping the nation.

“It was tone-deaf when Black and Brown women who were working in the mayor’s office were being abused by leaders on the mayor’s team, and not a damned thing was done about it,” he said.

O'Shea was referring to Johnson’s former communications chief, Ronnie Reese, who was accused of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment months before being forced out of City Hall. Reese denied the allegations.

In order to override a mayoral veto, 24 alderpersons who voted to phase out the subminimum wage would need to change their votes. The vote at the time was 34-10.

North Side Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th), who proposed the freeze last year only to have it stall in committee, said there are “people flipping already” after getting an earful from the local restaurant owners.

“It’s a different coalition certainly than it was 2½ ago. Different time in the City Council. A lot of the folks who are calling for this to be heard were ‘yes’ votes,” Lawson said. “When we see a dramatic drop in the types of hours and the closure of restaurants, we need to take that seriously and work with our restaurant partners. It’s not just the big guys. It’s a lot of the little folks, the mom and pops in the neighborhoods, too.”

Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia said the average server in an Illinois restaurant makes “close to $29 an hour,” and added that Washington, D.C., recently froze its tipped wage at 75% of the minimum wage. “If Mayor [Muriel] Bowser can realize it was a mistake, why can’t Mayor Johnson?” Toia asked.