Last week the Los Angeles City council passed an increase to the minimum wage in the city. Labor leaders and other good progressives cheered.  This week those same labor leaders are seeking an exemption from the law.  Let me repeat that.  After cheering the decision by the Los Angeles city council to impose a minimum wage of $15 on Los Angeles business owners, labor leaders are seeking an exemption from the law for businesses that hire union workers. Minimum wage for thee, but not for me!

But Rusty Hicks, who heads the county Federation of Labor and helps lead the Raise the Wage coalition, said Tuesday night that companies with workers represented by unions should have leeway to negotiate a wage below that mandated by the law.

“With a collective bargaining agreement, a business owner and the employees negotiate an agreement that works for them both. The agreement allows each party to prioritize what is important to them,” Hicks said in a statement. “This provision gives the parties the option, the freedom, to negotiate that agreement. And that is a good thing.”

Read the entire story here.

There really is no surprise here.  The rules the left loves to impose on the rest of us are seldom meant for them. Here is a man who spends his time lobbying law makers to impose a labor cost on businesses.  His case is given the lie by his request to exempt union businesses from the law.  Here he is now requesting that union businesses be allowed to pay BELOW the minimum wage.  He further argues that union members ought to be free to NEGOTIATE with businesses for their wage.  I just want to point out that if you stop by the Home Depot and pick up a day laborer, he will negotiate a wage with you that will prove beneficial to both parties because it allows them to prioritize what is important to them.  THAT is the same RIGHT he has just helped to deny EVERY BUSINESS OWNER IN LOS ANGELES. If minimum wage is such a terrific idea and doesn’t harm businesses, why on earth would union businesses need an exemption?