I can hear the thunder of feet as people rush to Maryland…just kidding. But it is nice to see that the governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, signed a statewide living wage bill–the first in the nation. From Steve Greenhouse’s piece in The New York Times:

Nationwide, 145 cities and counties have enacted living-wage bills, which generally require businesses that receive government contracts — and sometimes those that receive subsidies — to pay an amount above the federal or state minimum wage. The highest living wage in the nation is $14.75 an hour in Fairfax, Calif.

    Now, I think that “living wage” campaigns are fine. But the best living wage campaign there is comes from unionization: workers who have the power to band together to bargain for decent wages don’t need a “living wage” via legislation. Republicans, you want to get government out of the workplace–enact broad unionization and let workers bargain with companies!