Mayor Bloomberg has gone to court to block the City Council’s recent war on jobs.
Good for him. He may have a tough legal fight ahead, but it’ll certainly be worth the effort.
Looking to please their union masters, council members this year passed two laws (both over the mayor’s veto) to raise wages for some private-sector workers — and thereby kill job prospects in the city.
The first, known as the prevailing-wage law, imposes strict salary guidelines for workers — janitors, cleaning crews, security officers — in buildings that get 1 million or more in city money.
The second, the living-wage law, sets minimum pay rates at projects that get city subsidies.
Team Bloomberg argues that only the state and federal government have the authority to set wage floors. It also says that the laws infringe on the mayor’s City Charter-granted right to regulate city property and that, by imposing new requirements on economic-development projects, they unlawfully curb the mayor’s powers and overstep the council’s role in the land-use review process.
Whether or not such arguments have merit, Bloomberg’s legal eagles surely face an uphill battle — given the liberal leanings of so many New York judges. But, then, the legality of the measures is one thing; the council’s wisdom — recklessness, actually — in passing them is something else entirely.
As most economists will tell you, government-set wage miniumums lead to fewer jobs. And New York’s rep as a welcoming place to do business (hardly stellar now) will surely take another whopping blow if the new laws stand.
Recall the 2009 attempt to impose living-wage rules at a proposed development for the long-empty Kingsbridge Armory in The Bronx: It killed a project that would’ve produced 2,200 jobs and $300 million in new investment.
The Armory has remained fallow ever since — and The Bronx still has the highest unemployment rate in the state.
Face it: New York has long posed steep hurdles for businesses: onerous taxes and heavy regulation by government, for example, on top of high energy and real-estate costs, traffic and a host of other development downers.
The city’s economy just can’t afford another hit — particularly as the nation struggles to recover from one of its worst recessions.
So it’s good to see Bloomberg doing whatever he can to prevent the new laws from making matters worse.
Keep fighting, Mike.
