With former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg participating in the Democratic Presidential debate in Nevada this week, his position on issues the democrats have been debating may provide more impetus for their consideration. As a case in point, let’s look at the question of increasing the federal minimum wage (currently $7.25/hour) to $15/hour. Although the Fight for $15 group (funded by SEIU) has remained active over the past several years, they have largely focused their attention on individual states and cities – and been successful with that strategy. This week however, the Bloomberg campaign released the Bloomberg labor plan, a central component of which is a $15/hour federal minimum wage, and that may resurrect the discussion on the national stage. Bloomberg’s new position flies in the face of his stance on the minimum wage issue in 2012 when he was New York City Mayor – while threatening to veto a “living wage” bill that would have mandated a $10/hour wage, then Mayor Bloomberg compared that kind of management of the economy to Soviet Communism and went on to say “Not good for employers. But if you force that you will just drive businesses out of the city.”  With his name on the democratic primary ballot however, he now supports the minimum wage mandate saying “It’s past time to increase wages, guarantee paid leave and make it easier to organize . . .” His labor plan also includes expanding the overtime threshold, requiring employers to provide 12 weeks paid family leave and 7 days paid sick leave for all employees. Further, he calls for strengthening organized labor and outlawing ‘right to work’ laws that ban mandatory union membership as a condition for public sector employment.