Skokie Narrowly Votes To Abide By Minimum Wage And Sick Leave County Ordinances

SKOKIE, IL — In a packed Village Hall, the Skokie Village Board voted narrowly Thursday to raise wages and mandate earned sick time, aligning its labor laws with neighboring Chicago and Evanston rather than Wilmette and Niles. Skokie made a move last week to consider opting out of the ordinances, so while the other roughly 75 Cook County municipalities that voted to exempt employers from the new labor laws did so before they took effect, Skokie's approach would have meant retroactively blocking the rules.

Cook County ordinances raised the minimum wage to $10 per hour on Saturday, although in dozens of municipalities that exercised home-rule authority to opt out workers continue to earn an hourly wage of $8.25. Minimum wage will continue to rise under the ordinance to an eventual $13 per hour in 2020, after which it will be tied to inflation. Additionally, county sick leave rules offer employees one hour of sick leave per 40 hours worked. Public sector workers, minors, job learners and some others are exempted from the ordinances. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Skokie — or your community. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

After hours of public comment from supporters and opponents of a wage hike, Skokie trustees voted 3-3 with one absence. Trustees Edie Sue Sutker, Randall Ruberts and Michele Bromberg voted to raise minimum wage and mandate sick leave in line with the county rules, according to the Skokie Review.

Trustees Rahlph Klein, Ilonka Ulrich and Mayor George van Dusen all voted to exempt Skokie employers from the county rules. Trustee Karen Gray-Keeler was absent.

During the meeting, the lead sponsor and author of the minimum wage ordinance and the co-sponsor of the sick leave ordinance, Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, said a lawsuit would be filed as soon as Friday against municipalities that have elected to opt out. According to the Skokie Review, he suggested "in the next few months" most towns in the county would be going along with the new rules.

Even abiding by the ordinances, minimum wage in Skokie will still remain lower than across the border in Chicago, where minimum hourly wages for covered employees rose to $11 per hour July 1. However, the differential in hourly pay has been reduced to $1 rather than $2.75.

Last week, Evanston and Oak Park, two cities described by Suffredin Thursday as the "moral beacons of Cook County," also decided to follow the county labor mandates after briefly appearing to waver.

Evanston's mayor called an emergency meeting on the final day before the implementation of the ordinances to consider temporarily blocking them, but council members and the city clerk criticized the move and the meeting became an unofficial group discussion. And Oak Park last week also called an emergency meeting to consider a temporary opt out but decided against it after pushback from residents.

» Read more from CBS Chicago, Skokie Review

Top photo: Skokie City Council, July 6 | via Youtube