Yup, everyone seems to have missed that and that's why it might be a big deal. By the way, in case you missed it, Santa Monica is controlled by a Green Party mayor (Mike Feinstein) and city council. As I said before, this sort of activism is what one should expect from municipal government and might actually be meaningful rather than largely symbolic LW campaigns that only cover a small fraction of the city's workers and then impose the cost of the increased wages right back on the city's taxpayers.
Whether the model can be applied to other cities is the question. My understanding so far is that the barriers are 1) most state constitutions do not allow localities from establishing minimum wages and 2) the likelihood that business would move to neighboring cities rather than pay the increased wages. As for 1) I'd be interested to know whether the language allows for any wiggle room and/or whether it would be possible to legally challenge the provision in some way. 2) means that cities whose major employers are, for whatever reason, prevented from moving out should get going on comprehensive LW legislation now. For example, here we have a 12.5 billion dollar operation that sure as hell isn't going anywhere, pays a lot of its employees near starvation wages and doesn't pay any taxes to boot. Expansion of the LW here to hit that puppy seems like a no brainer to me. Am I missing something?
Btw, I'm curious whether the Cambridge city council which passed resolutions in support of the Harvard sit-in has considered expanding its LW and if not why not.
> There is a Coalition for the Political Resurrection of Detroit active
> this year in the Detroit City election, but it is not at the level of
> electability yet.
>
Is this a third party effort or is it tied to the Dems? If the latter,there are reasons to be less than optimistic.
> On the other hand, there have been a lot of grassroots activists
> elected to Mayor and City Council here over the years, and somehow
> this does not impact the control by the bourgeoisie. ( Ours include
> General Motors, Ford and Chrysler; I am looking at GM world
> headquarters out my office window) I once proposed aiming for ongoing
> mass control through continuous initiative, referenda and recall
> campaigns, but to really do that would require, none other than, state
> law changes, because the jurisdiction of mass initiatives, referenda
> are very limited.
One thing I've wondered about-maybe you know-is whether local government can do anything in support of strikes and organizing campaigns and has any power to prevent employers from engaging in union busting tactics. Is there any history of grassroots activists who really meant business (and I would not include Coleman Young in this category--though you can correct me if I'm wrong about that) and intervened to actively support labor against capital? If so, what did they try and did it work?
John