Under the living-wage law, groups that have contracts with the city of $10,000 or more must pay above-minimum wages. That wage level is now around $12 an hour for employees who don’t receive health benefits

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But upping the grant would increase the festival’s cost by some $19,000. And City Council Member Chris Easthope, who’s promoted the change, argues that the festival’s seasonal employees – almost all students – are not the kind of workers the wage law was meant to protect.

Thanks, Chris, for your beneficent leadership.