I worked over 30 years under union contracts from four different unions. Not once did any of those contracts prohibit paying more than scale to more productive employees. In fact, most of my jobs were over scale. The contract provided the minimum compensation, employers who refused to pay over that made that decision on their own, and frequently found themselves with a business filled with the kind of workers they deserved to have.
I never claimed that no union contracts permit higher pay for especially productive workers. I said union contracts typically do not authorize merit pay, and union officials usually won’t allow employers to go outside the contract to institute it.
If union officials really didn’t have a problem with merit pay, they wouldn’t have lobbied hard to defeat the RAISE Act, legislation authorizing merit pay in unionized businesses without union officials’ permission, when it came before the Senate last year.
I never claimed that no union contracts permit higher pay for especially productive workers. I said union contracts typically do not authorize merit pay, and union officials usually won’t allow employers to go outside the contract to institute it.
If union officials really didn’t have a problem with merit pay, they wouldn’t have lobbied hard to defeat the RAISE Act, legislation authorizing merit pay in unionized businesses without union officials’ permission, when it came before the Senate last year.
I never claimed that no union contracts permit higher pay for especially productive workers. I said union contracts typically do not authorize merit pay, and union officials usually won’t allow employers to go outside the contract to institute it.
If union officials really didn’t have a problem with merit pay, they wouldn’t have lobbied hard to defeat the RAISE Act, legislation authorizing merit pay in unionized businesses without union officials’ permission, when it came before the Senate last year.