Milwaukee & SEIU target government contractors to raise minimum wage

Too stupid for words

Milwaukee County raises minimum wage for all

non-SEIU government contractors

(Poor Richards News)  -  Yeah, this seems constitutional. The city of Milwaukee is raising the minimum wage…for almost everyone with whom it does business. That’s right. Every government contractor whose employees are not members of SEIU will be required by law to pay their employees a new, higher minimum wage of $11.33 per hour.

Can’t afford to pay your employees that amount? No problem. Simply force your employees to join the SEIU and you can keep paying the same rate.

From The Washington Examiner:

Mobsters making offers that can’t be refused typically do so in the bluntest possible language, but SEIU leaders in Wisconsin are running a close second. 

Gov. Scott Walker’s landmark reforms — including guaranteeing workers the right not to be forced to pay dues to a union they don’t want to join — is costing SEIU thousands of members.

The 8,385 members SEIU has lost since the reforms became law are solid evidence that before Walker came along the union depended upon force, rather than consent, to keep the dues revenue stream flowing. 

So the union’s leaders have come up with a backdoor way to force employees to fork over the dues money. It’s a novel variation on the Living Wage/Minimum Wage campaign. 

Here’s how it works: Milwaukee County officials approved a living wage requirement for local government contractors to pay at least $11.33 per hour. SEIU’s Wisconsin Jobs Now campaign was the main backer of the requirement. 

But the new law includes a convenient way for contractors to avoid having to pay the living wage — they can agree to force their employees to join SEIU.

Read the Rest (H/T: WZ)

Look, when the government gets to pick winners and losers, liberty is diminished. Every. Time.

But I’ll give the progressives credit. When the chips are down, they simply get creative, never mind what the Constitution says. The difference is, us small government types generally adhere to principles over pragmatism. And it’s awfully hard to win when you’re the only one playing by the rules.