On July 26, 2006 the Chicago City Council voted to approve an ordinance which for 7 weeks made Chicago the largest United States city that required big-box retailers to pay what the ordinance's sponsors characterized as a "living wage."
The ordinance defined "Large Retailers" as those with annual gross revenues of $1 billion or more or with stores of 90,000 square feet or more.
[1] (At the time, the minimum wage was $6.50 per hour state and $5.15 federal).
[2] The ordinance was sponsored by Aldermen Moore, Flores, Tillman, Preckwinkle, Hairston, Lyle, Beavers, Stroger, Beale, Pope, Balcer, Cardenas, Olivo, Theodore Thomas, Coleman, Latasha Thomas, Murphy, Troutman, Munoz, Chandler, Ocasio, Ed Smith, Reboyras, Matlak, Austin, Colon, Allen, Laurino, Levar, Shiller, Schulter, Maryanne Smith and Stone.
More than two dozen publications, including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Houston Chronicle, The Kansas City Star, Rocky Mountain News, The Seattle Times, and Philadelphia Daily News, carried the story.