L.A. labor leaders seek minimum wage exemption for firms with union workers

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: LA Times

Labor leaders, who were among the strongest supporters of the citywide minimum wage increase approved last week by the Los Angeles City Council, are advocating last-minute changes to the law that could create an exemption for companies with unionized workforces.

The push to include an exception to the mandated wage increase for companies that let their employees collectively bargain was the latest unexpected detour as the city nears approval of its landmark legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020.

For much of the past eight months, labor activists have argued against special considerations for business owners, such as restaurateurs, who said they would have trouble complying with the mandated pay increase.

But Rusty Hicks, who heads the county Federation of Labor and helps lead the Raise the Wage coalition, said Tuesday night that companies with workers represented by unions should have leeway to negotiate a wage below that mandated by the law.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-los-angeles-minimum-wage-unions-20150526-story.html

[unblock]

1. so employers can force employees to join a weak union so they can cut their wages?

[Android3.14]

2. Aiming that pistol at your foot, eh?

That is the kind of bonehead move that could scuttle a good thing.

[MichMan]

3. Incentive?

So join the union for less pay? That sounds like a winning strategy

[Kingofalldems]

4. I support unions. In this case I trust they know

what they are doing. Slightly lower wages with more benefits is OK with me. Did you forget to include that?

[sulphurdunn]

7. Union workers working

for less than minimum wage so they can make up the difference in benefits? I don't think so. How about union workers earning above minimum wages and benefits? That's OK with me.

[Kingofalldems]

8. Depends on what the benefits are.

I support unions anyway. And BTW they are democratic with members choosing which way they want to go on the issues of wages and benefits.

[diabeticman]

5. Am I dumb but that seems counter productive to what a union is suppose to do.

[ascap_scab]

6. Union leaders in it for the dues?

So it's OK to screw the workers as long as the Union gets its cut first. Who's looking out for whom?

[Starry Messenger]

9. I think the LATimes is rat-fucking.

Hick's quote: ""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," Hicks said in a statement. "This provision gives the parties the option, the freedom, to negotiate that agreement. And that is a good thing."

In no way was he saying that businesses should pay workers less.

[hughee99]

10. I don't think I read this right...

You can make minimum wage OR you can join a union that could negotiate a LOWER than minimum wage salary, and then take union dues out of this lower than minimum wage salary.

The employers make out because they can possibly pay their workers LESS than minimum wage, the union would make out since you'd now have employers encouraging union membership (and more dues). It seems like the only people not sure to come out ahead are the very same people the law was targeting... the worker.