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

[thundley4]

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.

"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."

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

What BS!.  That idiot claims the unions and companies know what's best but for non-union companies, the government knows what is best.

That's bullshit reasoning.  The unions know that if unionized companies are forced to raise wages, then there will be layoffs of union workers. That means no dues paid by those workers. Once again, the unions are looking out for themselves, not the workers they claim to represent.

[Belle]

I could hardly believe what I was reading.  What hypocrisy.
Is another reason this is being promoted is to have companies begging to be unionized, or am I not reading this correctly? 

From your link:  "Gonzalez said the change sought by labor officials could pressure companies into letting employees unionize as a way to seek relief from the mandated wage hike."

If this is what the scheme is, then its a frantic push by unions to increase their base, & in return, increase the monies going to Democrats.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Crazy, yet not surprising.

[thundley4]

The DUmmies finally found about this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026741133

DUmmies try and defend the indefensible once again.

stevenleser (23,403 posts)
16. If minimum wage becomes $15 an hour it becomes much more likely. There must be a reason

these Unions in California are fighting for this. I doubt they would spend political and other capital on it if they didn't have real world applications for this exception.

[obumazombie]

Good find thundley !

The unions have to work by hook or crook to keep their criminal enterprises funded.
I wonder if they are paying their paid protesters the same wage the protests are about.
I know they stiffed the Ferguon paid protesters.
It's one thing to offer compensation.
It's quite another to deliver what's promised.
I hope the paid protesters learned and earned a valuable lesson.