It will come as no surprise to readers of this page that Los Angeles is preparing to adopt a ridiculously high $15 minimum wage, at the behest of local labor unions. It might come as an amusing addendum that those labor unions, in turn, want to exempt from this requirement all businesses that force their employees to accept union representation and pay dues to unions.

This may be the most nakedly self-serving instance of regulatory activism in America today. As they drive nonunion businesses to flee their city, the unionists seek to protect themselves at the expense of whatever workers are unfortunate enough to lack transportation to wherever the jobs end up.