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In precincts from 24 wards over the last three elections (last year’s March primary, the November general election, and last month’s municipal election) voters were asked to weigh in on a nonbinding referendum reading “Shall the Chicago City Council enact the ‘Big Box Living Wage Ordinance,’ requiring that all retail establishments of 90,000 square feet in Chicago with $1 billion or more in sales pay a minimum ‘living wage’ of at least $10.00 per hour plus $3.00 per hour towards employee health benefits?”
As you may recall, 35 alderman voted for the big-box minimum-wage ordinance over Mayor Daley’s objections last year. The mayor killed the ordinance by vetoing it, then convincing three aldermen (Danny Solis, George Cardenas, and Shirley Coleman) to flip-flop, preventing an override.
Results were even more schizophrenic in alderman Cardenas’s 12th ward in February: about 83 percent of the voters voted for the referendum on the very same ballot where they reelected Cardenas with 59.1 percent of the vote. In the sixth precinct the referendum won 92 percent and Cardenas 62 percent of the vote.
