Cook County commissioners (from left) Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Richard Boykin and Stanley Moore talk during last week’s County Board meeting. All three commissioners voted in favor of raising the minimum wage in Cook County to $13 per hour by 2020. (Photo by Kevin Beese/for Chronicle Media)

Mike Saelens has had to turn to Medicare and Medicaid for his medical coverage after a vicious attack left him unable to work.

While dealing with constant pain and issues from the July 2013 attack, the resident of Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood understands his dependence on government health care as his safety net. What he has difficulty understanding is why working individuals have to turn to those same government healthcare options because of low pay, sub-par or no insurance, and their corporation’s skirting paying their rightful share of taxes.

“When people with jobs have their healthcare funded by Medicaid while those same big companies that employ them refuse to pay their fair share of taxes, it stretches the safety net to the breaking point and uses taxpayer dollars to subsidize corporate profits,” said Saelens, a member of The People’s Lobby, which pushed the county to increase the minimum wage for suburban Cook workers.

“Those large corporations need to pay their fair share to wage workers and our communities, and the minimum wage increase is a necessary step in that direction,” Saelens said.

Cook County commissioners last week in a 12-3 vote approved legislation that gradually increases the minimum wage for workers in the county outside of Chicago to $13 by July 2020. The current statewide minimum of $8.25 per hour will increase to $10 in Cook County in July and then rise $1 each year for the following three years.

Chicago already has a minimum-wage ordinance in place, with a current $10.50 per hour minimum for workers within the city limits. Workers in Chicago hit the $13 minimum wage in 2019, a year ahead of suburban Cook County workers.

Towns can opt out of the mandatory increase by passing a resolution saying so. Commissioner Tim Schneider has said many North Shore communities are considering such a step.

Voting for the measure were Commissioners Luis Arroyo Jr., Richard Boykin, Jerry Butler, John Daley, Bridget Gainer, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Edward Moody, Stanley Moore, Deborah Sims, Robert Steele, Larry Suffredin and Jeff Tobolski.

Commissioners voting against increasing the minimum wage were: Gregg Goslin, Sean Morrision and Schneider.

Voting “present” was Commissioner Pete Silvestri.

Commissioner John Fritchey was absent.

Board President Toni Preckwinkle applauded the action and proponents who fought for the measure’s passage.

“I would like to thank the advocates who worked so long and hard on this issue,” Preckwinkle said. “We are grateful for your help and support.”

Tanya Triche, vice president and general counsel of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, negated arguments that the state minimum wage hike in 2003 had virtual no impact on jobs on the Illinois/Indiana border.

“This is not 2003,” Triche said. “Employers were not dealing with a number of things they are dealing with today. Employers at that time were not dealing with the healthcare costs due to (the Affordable Care Act). At that time, they were not dealing with paid sick leave on a local level, paid (family medical leave) on a local level, the new federal overtime regulations; and, certainly in the city of Chicago, they weren’t dealing with the highest property tax increase in that city’s history.

“This is a very different economy and this is a very different time. To look at 2003 and expect that the same thing will repeat itself in 2016, I think, is not wise.”

Boykin said he understands small-business owners’ concern about the higher salaries, but added that the county had to act on behalf of residents.

“I am mindful of the challenge to our small businesses that is presented by a lack of uniformity in our wage laws,” Boykin said. “… If there is one trend that is more harmful to our Cook County economy more than another other, it is uncertainty. Add in an unstable and dysfunctional government in Springfield and the situation for business owners and workers alike becomes intolerable.

“Minimum-wage workers deserve a raise. Minimum-wage workers are not just teenagers or those who are working just to earn a few dollars. They are mothers and fathers. They are senior citizens. They are people who cannot survive on $8.25 an hour; and because of the leadership of this board, they will no longer have to.”

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