Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/tag/low-wage-workers/)
Most of the gains from the record economy went to those at the top, while everyone else saw much smaller gains – if any – in income and wealth.
Stressing out about potentially losing benefits can prolong financial instability. Solving this problem will help low-paid workers and everyone else.
Worker-owned businesses, or co-ops, can create jobs with better wages and working conditions, but remain limited by state law and a lack of support in Illinois, advocates say.
In a booming economy failing to provide enough living wage jobs, the city can more than afford to try Ald. Ameya Pawar’s proposal to relieve poverty.
As Rahm Emanuel courts flashy projects amid a slew of scandals, it seems the mayor is more accountable to big-money donors than to neighborhood constituents.
The Office of Labor Standards would enforce Chicago’s minimum wage increase, guaranteed paid sick days, and guard against wage theft for vulnerable workers.
The costly projects will add to the exodus of jobs to the suburbs making employment out of reach for low-income Chicagoans who rely on public transit.
Los trabajadores que reportan robo de salarios ahora enfrentan periodos de espera más largos, un porcentaje mayor de despidos y más burocracia.
Low-wage workers face long waits and high dismissal rates when filing stolen wage claims with the state labor department.
A bill sitting on the governor’s desk would heed the call of Illinois voters, a majority of whom endorsed a minimum wage increase in a 2014 referendum.