Living without the "Living Wage"

There's just no way to sugar-coat this one...the city fell through on their promise to pay workers a "living wage". Full time employees for businesses that have contracts with the city should be making about $13.00 per hour. Instead, employees working for Murbro Parking are only making half that, about $7.50.
We talked to several parking attendants working at city garages, like the one on Fayette St, and Washington St. They refused to go on camera, sure that if their boss saw them or even had an inkling they were talking to the media, they would be fired. But they didn't seem surprised they were supposed to be making more money. They simply said to us, that they don't expect to ever get a raise.
But one brave employee, Patrick O'Halloran, had enough. The city passed the living wage law in 2005, so O'Halloran gave it a year and after not seeing his pay go up, he quit, sued Murbro parking for the money he never got, and won.
Murbro parking says the city told them not to pay the living wage, and I saw the person who drafted the living wage sent to Murbro saying exactly that.
The letter said that since Murbro's contract with the city was made well before the city adopted the living wage law, they did not have to give the employees a raise, but if they did enter new contracts with the city, then they would have to. Here's the catch....Murbro didn't consdier their monthly verbal agreements with the city, as legal contracts....but the judge did. So Murbro owes O'Halloran at least $8,000, that's how much he lost out on since he wasn't paid the living wage.
But it's the taxpayers who are footing the bill. You see, Murbro parking gets reimbursed by the city for all of it's expenses, including paying employee wages and paying O'Halloran his $8,000. Murbro parking manager told me it didn't matter to him if he paid his employees $8 per hour or $25 per hour, because they ultimately get reimbursed by taxpayers anyway!
O'Halloran's lawyer agreed but pointed out that it's the taxpayer's burden either way, but it's certainly easier to foot the bill over time, rather than pay $8,000 in a lump sum. But he warned it could be more than that if other employees follow suit and file a lawsuit against Murbro. He said we would just have to wait and see.
Later this month, the judge will decide exactly how much Murbro, and thus taxpayers, owe O'Halloran.