Illinois Quick Hits: Tipped Wage Debate Continues

The Center Square

September 8, 2023

CTU president sends child to private school

The president of the Chicago Teachers Union, who has denounced school choice, has confirmed she is sending her son to a private school.

Stacy Davis Gates told WBEZ that families like hers that live in certain areas of the city do not have the type of options afforded to white residents in other areas.

Gates and CTU leadership have been vocal in their opposition to the Invest in Kids school choice scholarship program. If not renewed by the end of the year, Illinois would be the first state in the country to eliminate an existing school choice program.

Tipped wage debate continues

The Illinois Restaurant Association is offering an alternative to a plan to end the so-called “sub-minimum” wage for workers who earn tips.

A Chicago City Council committee is expected to hold a hearing this month on an ordinance that would raise the minimum wage salary paid to restaurant and bar workers while allowing them to still collect tips.

President Sam Toia said the higher wage level would be detrimental to smaller eateries and suggests quadrupling the penalties for businesses that fail to make up the difference in tips for servers who don't make the equivalent minimum wage.

Kroger settles opioid case

The state of Illinois has announced a national settlement with Kroger that will require the grocery chain to pay $1.3 billion to participating state and local governments for its role in the opioid crisis.

The agreement would only be applicable to states in which Kroger operates, both under its own name or under the name of other subsidiaries. In Illinois, Kroger owns Mariano’s.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office negotiated the Kroger settlement with the attorneys general of California, Colorado, North Carolina, Tennessee, Oregon and Virginia.

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