McHenry Times

State Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) wonders who Gov. J.B. Pritzker thinks he’s helping by pressing forward with a minimum wage increase at a time when many small businesses across the state are already struggling to keep their doors open.

“We’ve been asking for a delay since we realized businesses were going to be closed for more than two weeks and we started to talk with business owners who let us know what the real impact would be,” Ugaste told the Kane County Reporter. “If you bring the businesses back with a minimum wage increase due as soon as they start to reopen, it’s only going to make matters that much worse.”

As part of Pritzker’s phased wage-increase plan, the state’s minimum wage is increased to $10 an hour on July 1 will be lifted to $11 on Jan. 1, 2021. By 2025, wages are slated to jump to at least $15 an hour.

“I understand the pay increase for people on the lower end of the earning scale, but you have to look at both sides,” Ugaste added. “When businesses are making decisions about if they can stay open and how many of their workers they’ll be able to bring back, that may not be the time for something like this. It ends up doing no one any good.”

Even as the state recently moved into Phase 4 of the governor’s five-phase Restore Illinois plan, meaning more businesses can now operate with fewer restrictions, Ugaste argues small businesses across the state are in no shape to take on added burden.

“It means harder times for businesses and workers alike,” he said. “No one knows with any certainty when we’ll be able to fully reopen and we’re doing this. It’s only going to create more problems for everyone.”