Friday Governor Rauner rescinded Governor Quinn’s Executive Order increasing
the minimum wage for vendors. The new Governor said he supported an increase
in the minimum wage along with incentives for business owners.
I have little doubt that the minimum wage is going to increase this spring
according to legislators I have talked to. I also believe that we will continue to see
efforts to phase out sub-minimum wages in the Congress as well.
Story below on the minimum wage increase and The Arc is quoted.
Tony
Vendors react to Quinn’s minimum wage action
January 16, 2015 1:36 pm • Kurt Erickson Times Bureau
SPRINGFIELD — Although Gov. Bruce Rauner may try to reverse it, a last-minute
maneuver by former Gov. Pat Quinn to boost the minimum wage could have
wide-ranging effects across the state.
UPDATE: Governor Rauner announced late Friday that he has rescinded this and
many other recent Quinn executive orders.
In the final minutes before he left office Monday, Quinn issued an executive
order requiring a $10-an-hour minimum wage for all vendors and state
contractors.
That could mean everyone from a dishwasher at one of the state’s privately
operated park lodges to a teenager hired to staff the canoe rental booth at a state
park could see a raise from the current minimum wage of $8.25 an hour.
It also could mean raises for entry-level workers who provide assistance to the
elderly and disabled through various nonprofit organizations that are paid by the
state.
At the ARC of Illinois, which represents a coalition of organizations serving
developmentally disabled residents, the higher wage could be a mixed blessing,
Executive Director Tony Paulauski said.
On one hand, it could help lure new workers in a competitive labor pool. By
contrast, it will cost the groups more to do business, he said.
That’s why Paulauski and others are working with lawmakers to try to boost the
reimbursement rates organization receive from the state to offset the higher wage.
Don Moss, executive director of United Cerebral Palsy of Illinois, said the higher
costs could be a final straw for some vendors.
“To impose this added financial burden without increasing the rates would be
a severe blow to the system,” Moss said.
Mary McGlauchlen, associate director of Central Illinois Service Access, said
some of the providers could face serious financial hardship.
“For some of them, it could put them out of business,” she said Friday.
Quinn’s action came after he failed to convince the Illinois House to join with the
Senate to raise the minimum wage for all state residents, even after Illinois
voters approved an advisory referendum in November calling for an increase in
the minimum wage.
Quinn’s move mirrored one by President Barack Obama, who took executive
action to boost the minimum wage for federal contractors.
The governor’s action affects only pending or new contracts with vendors.
Republican Bruce Rauner, who took over as governor on Monday, said he is
considering rescinding his Democratic counterpart’s move, which was among a
flurry of 11th-hour actions Quinn took before his term ended.
“My bias is to take action to undue pretty much everything that Governor Quinn
did since the election,” Rauner told reporters earlier this week. “Every time we
look, most of it’s bad.”
Rauner offered no timetable for a decision.
“We’ll deal with that in due course,” Rauner said.
Tony Paulauski Executive Director
The Arc of Illinois
20901 S. LaGrange Rd. Suite 209
Frankfort, IL 60423
815-464-1832 (OFFICE)
815-464-1832 (CELL)
Tony@thearcofil.org
