CHICAGO – The International Franchise Association (IFA) wrote a letter to the Chicago City Council and Mayor Rahm Emanuel urging the removal of a provision that seeks to increase the city’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, which IFA says discriminates against franchisees.

According to the letter, authored by IFA President and CEO Steve Caldeira, franchisees are locally owned, small businesses — not large, national businesses as the legislation suggests. Giving non-franchise small businesses extra time to increase their wages, but forcing franchisees to raise their wages along with large companies is unfair and unconstitutional, Caldeira said.

This comes immediately on the heels of a lawsuit filed by IFA and five franchisees, seeking to block Seattle’s new law increasing the city’s minimum wage to $15 per-hour. The complaint, filed U.S. District Court in Seattle, alleges that the ordinance illegally discriminates against franchisees and improperly treats them not as the small, locally-owned businesses they are, but as large, national companies. 

The full text of IFA’s letter is available here.