Mayor Bloomberg Sues To Kill New York’s Living Wage Law Before He Leaves Office
After failing to stop the New York City Council from passing a living wage bill last year, outgoing mayor Michael Bloomberg is winding down his term by suing to kill the law.
The City Council overrode Bloomberg’s veto in 2012 to require developers and businesses who receive at least $1 million in city aid to pay workers either $10 an hour with benefits or $11.50 an hour without. But Bloomberg’s office has refused to implement the law, claiming it violates New York’s state minimum wage law. This argument successfully derailed the city’s similar prevailing wage law, which was reluctantly struck down by State Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Wright over the summer.
In his decision, Wright acknowledged that he personally felt the law “could benefit the people of New York” and challenged the “wisdom in the mayor’s zeal for the possibility of welcoming to New York City a business that would pay its building service employees less than the prevailing wage.”
New York City’s stark incom
e inequality has attracted close scrutiny in recent years, particularly after Mayor-Elect Bill DiBlasio won his campaign largely on a platform of making the city more hospitable to lower income and middle class workers. The gap between rich and poor widened during Bloomberg’s term, as housing prices
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/12/16/3068511/bloomberg-parting-gift-living-wage-lawsuit/
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Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out, asshole. 