The Chicago City Council approved the One Fair Wage ordinance, a proposal to phase out the City’s subminimum wage for tipped workers over a five-year period. The legislation will provide for the wages of tipped workers such as restaurant servers, bartenders, bussers and runners who earn a subminimum wage of $9.48 per hour to increase by 8 percent per year until it reaches parity with Chicago’s standard hourly minimum wage of $15.80. By increasing wages, this ordinance can also address the restaurant industry’s staffing crisis and increase opportunities for youth employment.   The passage was a negotiation between Mayor Brandon Johnson, the City Council, the One Fair Wage campaign, and the Illinois Restaurant Association. Introduced by 26th Ward Alderperson Jessie Fuentes, the legislation progressed from the City Council’s Committee on Workforce Development in a 9-3 vote. In addition to the legislation, One Fair Wage, a national non-profit organization, will provide capacity-building grants to small or BIPOC-owned businesses to support this transition for full-service restaurants with tipped workers that may be especially impacted. Restaurants participating in One Fair Wage’s High Road Kitchen’s program will commit to going through a training program run by One Fair Wage and will receive grant disbursements for each phase of training completed.