Unions seek exemption from Los Angeles’ recent minimum wage increase from $9 to $15. Is anyone really shocked by this? Their reasoning is… if workers agree to a lower than minimum wage through collective bargaining, well then, it’s really up to the workers to accept that lower wage. So that’s ok. See? Makes sense, right?
No, it doesn’t make sense! If workers have the right to choose to accept a specific wage, then why don’t they have the right to decline work at a place that doesn’t pay enough to support them?
“When unions do something like this, it demonstrates that their rhetoric about low wages is hollow,” ~ Andrew Wimer, National Federation of Independent Business’
And if the new $15 minimum wage was necessary to provide that “living wage” everyone was screaming about, why would a union, who is supposedly all about protecting workers’ rights, advocating pay less than that bare bones minimum wage? Because they’re not REALLY all about protecting workers. They really all about protecting the union!
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Photo credit FibonacciBlue
