You missed the crucial paragraph:
> "It's the first time that I know of that it's been applied to
> workers that aren't contracted by a city or county," said Heather
> Boushey, an economist for the Economic Policy Institute, a
> Washington-based think tank that has not taken part in the wage
> debate.
The Dems have passed living wage ordinances but these have applied only to city goverment and city contractors, generally a small fraction of the wage pool. In New Haven, for example, the existing ordinance passed by the Dems effects fewer than 200 workers many of whom were getting higher wages already.
Notice also the desirable consequence (from the New Dem standpoint) or increasing the cost of local government thust increasing the pressure to privatize governmental services in the interests of "efficiency."
Always count your change with these guys.
John Halle