Is Business Doing the Right Thing?
The Albuquerque business community has mobilized to oppose the “living wage” measure that would impose a $7.50 an hour minimum wage. So far, their main argument against it is the bothersome clause that would give access to businesses to “inform employees of their rights.”
Clearly this is a bad feature of the ballot initiative, but is it the right one to stress in a campaign against the measure? I don’t believe it is.
The “access” clause is rightly opposed by business, but I doubt whether the the voting public cares much one way or the other.
Anti-minimum wage advocates should, in my opinion, stress the traditional economic arguments: It costs jobs, raises costs, and forces buwiness to move away.