Without adult supervision, the New York City Council has done as much as it can think of to serve the needs and causes of the oppressed, the marginalized, the downtrodden, micromanaging everything from hairdos to pronouns. And with the pandemic upon it, it’s found a new shark to jump.
Mom-and-pop shops as well as medium-sized businesses find themselves hanging by a thin hair in this crisis — yet City Council Speaker Corey Johnson wants to add to their burdens with a bundle of new mandates.
One bill would force essential businesses to retain every employee unless they have a “just cause” to fire someone. A second part of the package would require employers of 100 or more to pay low-wage shift workers a premium of $40 to $75 per shift during the pandemic.
Some will see these regs and hug themselves; after all, aren’t these our heroes? Don’t heroes deserve to keep their jobs, deserve battle pay, deserve our protection and devotion?
First, let’s address the “hero” characterization. The people who have gone out so that we can shelter in place deserve our appreciation. Whether because they left the safety of their homes to serve others or to put food on their tables, they did it and, because they did, we could stay home and survive. While we use the word “hero” promiscuously, it would be disingenuous of us not to appreciate them. They are owed a debt of gratitude.
Second, the laws of physics and economics remain in full force and effect. While the government, with the approval of the evil Senate and the righteous House, hands out trillions to the suffering chain stores and multinationals, these “low-wage” earners will eventually get their $1,200 stipend like everyone else.
Their small business owners might have the good fortune to be one of the lucky twelve to get a PPP loan to be later forgiven, but chances are that they won’t get squat because, as the president says, the program has been exceptionally successful because it gave away the money so swiftly to those with private banking relationships.
It would be one thing if the New York City Council was handing out money to small businesses with which to pay their employees battle pay in the war against the invisible enemy, but it’s not. It’s strength is in unfunded mandates for the good of its favored, the employee. When the business fails to earn sufficient revenue to keep them all on, the new battle won’t be whether to lay off the last hired, but to close up shop completely, since there is no option to let employees go because there is not enough money to pay them.
And to exacerbate this problem, mandating that employees be paid an additional stipend for their “heroism” sounds wonderful, except that it will cause shops to shutter sooner, businesses to fail despite their best efforts to survive, and employees to no longer have a job to go to. You can’t be a hero when your job is gone.
That the New York City Council wants to do something to remain relevant in this time of uncertainty is understandable. That they can’t grasp the functioning of the enterprises that provide the jobs that low-wage people use to feed their families, on the other hand, presents a problem. There are going to be a great many businesses that would otherwise be successful that will not survive this shutdown. The costs of business continue even though the revenues disappear. This isn’t hard math, even if it eludes the City Council.
Want to help our “heroes”? Want to help the oppressed and marginalize, the poor who keep us alive? Me too. Don’t do everything in your power to make the businesses that they work for fail. They have it hard enough at the moment, and your passion won’t pay their bills.
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