From the truth is stranger than fiction except if you're in Los Angeles and/or dealing with union personnel file we learn what happens when reality slaps high-sounding abstract liberal theory in the face.  In this instance, reality wins.  Sort of. 

L.A. labor leaders seek minimum wage exemption for firms with union workers

Labor leaders, who were among the strongest supporters of the citywide minimum wage increase approved last week by the Los Angeles City Council, are advocating last-minute changes to the law that could create an exemption for companies with unionized workforces. (snip)

But Rusty Hicks, who heads the county Federation of Labor and helps lead the Raise the Wage coalition, said Tuesday night that companies with workers represented by unions should have leeway to negotiate a wage below that mandated by the law.

"With a collective bargaining agreement, a business owner and the employees negotiate an agreement that works for them both. The agreement allows each party to prioritize what is important to them," Hicks said in a statement. "This provision gives the parties the option, the freedom, to negotiate that agreement. And that is a good thing."

Hmmm, but not all agree that this wage gap "is a good thing."

"I'd refer everyone back to the statements of labor leaders over the past seven months that no one deserves a sub-minimum wage," said Ruben Gonzalez, senior vice president for public policy and political affairs with the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, which opposed the minimum wage increase passed by the City Council.

Hmmm, yes, why this seeming cognitive dissonance from labor unions?  Gonzalez answers his own question. 

Gonzalez said the change sought by labor officials could pressure companies into letting employees unionize as a way to seek relief from the mandated wage hike.

"Once again, the soaring rhetoric of helping the working poor is just a cover for city government acting as a tool of organized labor," he said.

Ya think?  Would organized labor extort/make an offer they couldn't refuse to a company saying, "Become a union firm and we'll only demand $10 an hour per worker instead of the government-mandated $15 per hour"?  Why, yes, organized labor would do that.  As a bonus, think of all the illegal aliens (no, not undocumented immigrants), plus desperate workers, who would gratefully accept $10 an hour plus the price of union dues while others were getting 50% more.  The unions could add all those people to their membership.

And then blame the wage disparity on the evil rich millionaire bosses who didn't build anything. 

Yeah!