Why union leaders want L.A. to give them a minimum wage loophole

Los Angeles Times ^ | July 27, 2015 | Peter Jamison

[grundle]

ne of the most divisive issues that Los Angeles City Council members expect to confront when they return this week from a summer recess will be a proposal by labor leaders to exempt unionized workers from the city's new minimum wage.

The push for the loophole, which began in the final days before the law's passage, caused a backlash rarely seen in this pro-union city and upended perceptions of labor's role in the fight to raise pay for the working poor. Union activists were among the most stalwart backers of L.A.'s ordinance raising the wage to $15 by 2020, and argued against special consideration for nonprofits and small businesses.

Rusty Hicks, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said the union waiver would be a routine protection against challenges to the ordinance under federal labor law. "This is about staying consistent with previous provisions and crafting something that will withstand legal scrutiny and delay," Hicks said in May. In California, he added, "we've seen every city that has passed a minimum wage include this kind of a provision."

[Steely Tom]

L A Times needs to write a think piece to explain this to their readers, most of whom are effectively brain-dead.

[kingu]

labor's role in the fight to raise pay for the working poor.

Nope, labor's role is in raising the wages of all their members under contract, which almost always include raising the wages if the minimum wage is increased. Their only 'care' for the working poor is if they can make them union members too and farm them for money as well.

[EQAndyBuzz]

We approve of a raising of the minimum wage.... and by the way, we want an exemption from it.

That is pure unadulterated gall.

[Secret Agent Man]

Liberal elites always want exemptions from rules they demand others must follow without exceptions.

Why pigs need apples and milk, we are thinkers and spend great amounts of time managing the farm so you all can have a life free from the wicked rule of the farmer. /paraphase animal farm

[Steely Tom]

We approve of a raising of the minimum wage.... and by the way, we want an exemption from it.

That is pure unadulterated gall.

I bet the dumb clucks who stay at their union jobs once their employers become little islands of low wages within a sea of $15 jobs are just the kind of readers the LA Times wrote this story for.

[nascarnation]

Sounds like Obamacare.
Waivers for the protected affiliates.

[Pearls Before Swine]

.. a proposal by labor leaders to exempt unionized workers from the city's new minimum wage.

Union interns? Or minimum wage for paid picketers?

[G Larry]

1- The mob wants the increased revenue from their members.

2- The mob does NOT want the expense of having to pay this increase to their employees.

[arthurus]

If nonunion employers have to pay an absurdly high minimum wage and union employers don’t it seems that some employers that can’t o automate will have to unionize.