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The Daily Signal
Los Angeles
Unions: Minimum Wage Hike for Thee, But Not for Me
James Sherk
May 29, 2015
Los Angeles recently hiked its minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Los Angeles unions strongly support this move, with a catch. They want
the increase to apply only to non-union companies.
The Los Angeles Times reports local unions are now lobbying the city
council to exempt unionized firms from the higher rate. If they get
their way, unionized companies—and only unionized companies—could pay
less than the new minimum.
At first glance this appears highly hypocritical: Unions want to
require companies to pay more but do not want their members to lose
their jobs as a result.
As Rusty Hicks, head of the Los Angeles Federation of Labor, told the
Times:
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. This provision gives the parties the option, the freedom, to
negotiate that agreement. And that is a good thing.
Los Angeles unions appear to recognize the value of flexibility for
their members even as they push for a law that denies it to everyone
else. They don’t mind higher wages eliminating other workers’ jobs, but
they want to protect their members.
This take probably underestimates Los Angeles’ unions. They have
another reason to seek this exemption: It would boost their membership.
An exemption would enable unions to offer businesses lower wages in
exchange for unionizing.
Unions have increasingly turned to this tactic to increase their
membership.
As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce documented recently, organized labor
has strongly pushed for “living wage” requirements in major U.S.
cities. Many of these union-backed ordinances exempt unionized
companies. Unions use these exemptions to help organize and reduce
costs at unionized companies. For example:
In Long Beach, Calif., UNITE-HERE failed for a
decade to organize two major hotels. In 2013 the union placed a measure
on the ballot requiring large hotels to pay at least $13 an hour. The
measure also exempted unionized hotels. Soon after it passed the unions
organized both hotels with the active assistance of the hotels’
management.
Milwaukee passed an ordinance requiring county
contractors to pay $11.32 an hour, also allowing an exemption for
unionized firms. Shortly after it passed, the Service Employees
International Union offered to exempt a home-care provider from the
wage increase if she agreed to deduct union dues from her 1,500
employee’s wages.
Seattle requires employers to provide paid sick
leave—with an exemption for unionized firms. The city auditor reports
that two-thirds of affected unions used that exemption in some or all
of their contracts.
Allowing unionized companies to sidestep the minimum wage hike gives
non-union companies a strong incentive to unionize. This could mean
tens of thousands of new members for Los Angeles unions and millions of
dollars in additional dues.
Of course, most workers don’t unionize in hopes of getting a pay cut.
But unions often can ignore such objections. National Labor Relations
Board rules generally require workers to wait three years before voting
out a newly formed union. California also lacks a “right-to-work”
law—unionized Los Angeles workers must pay dues or get fired, no matter
how little they like their contract.
The government should not give special interest groups carve-outs to
boost their membership. If Los Angeles unions believe that non-union
employers should have to pay at least $15 an hour, that rate should
apply to unionized firms too. The law should not make unions the
low-cost option.
Read this and other articlea with links at The Daily Signal
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