LA's labor unions

[BigRedBuster]

I'm going to start this post off with this because it's so appropriate

 

LINK

 

So...let me get this straight. They fight for universal $15 per hour minimum wage. They get it...then they want exempt. I know the article tried to make sense of it later but it still is completely baffling and idiotic.

 

Basically, what they want is for everyone in the world to be FORCED to pay $15 per hour...BUT....if they see it in their best interest, they want their companies to be able to pay less.

 

What a total crock of crap if you are a small non-union company. Let's say I am paying $15 per hour and am competing with the big unionized company and that company then convinces their labor that if they take a little bit less, they can put me out of business and in the end everyone in their company is a winner.

 

This is nothing more than an attempt at unions to legally strong arm non union companies. If that passes, I would be moving my company out of LA as fast as possible.

[cornographic]

From my experience, unions usually occupy a different market than small(er) contractors, especially in construction.

 

As to the $15 per, you have Kashama Sawant(Seattle declared socialist city council woman) to 'blame' for that:

 

 

But there has been a fair resurgence of labor striking around the country(and the world) the last 5 years or so.

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/laborvideo

[zoogs]

Huh, that's interesting. Minimum wage laws -- unions -- collective bargaining. Several layers there.

 

It certainly seems to me that if you want to guarantee a minimum wage via law, that would mean not giving yourself the opportunity to go around that by dominating a CBA fight.

 

$15 seems fair to me for somewhere as expensive as LA. But it also seems they need to be fairly competitive relative to other similar places.

 

I'm not very familiar with any of this. I do think income inequality is an important issue, and I'd like to see it tackled productively.

[cornographic]

Huh, that's interesting. Minimum wage laws -- unions -- collective bargaining. Several layers there.

 

It certainly seems to me that if you want to guarantee a minimum wage via law, that would mean not giving yourself the opportunity to go around that by dominating a CBA fight.

 

$15 seems fair to me for somewhere as expensive as LA. But it also seems they need to be fairly competitive relative to other similar places.

 

I'm not very familiar with any of this. I do think income inequality is an important issue, and I'd like to see it tackled productively.

Yeah, wage labor should be paid more, much more, but deal is, the landlord's will just raise the rent, etc etc. Always happens.

[BigRedBuster]

From my experience, unions usually occupy a different market than small(er) contractors, especially in construction.

 

 

Not always. Smaller contractors can be hired to do work say on military bases around the country but they are required to pay union wages. It's not a problem if you know the rules going in and it's built into the bid. Those union wages are a set figure for everyone to bid. The problem would come up if they are required to bid using union wages and then the union has the ability to then turn around and pay their workers less than the minimum wage.

 

No matter how you cut it, the unions can't have it both ways. Either you want the high minimum wage or you don't. If you want it high, then you have to live with the consequences just like any other business.

[cornographic]

 

From my experience, unions usually occupy a different market than small(er) contractors, especially in construction.

 

 

Not always. Smaller contractors can be hired to do work say on military bases around the country but they are required to pay union wages. It's not a problem if you know the rules going in and it's built into the bid. Those union wages are a set figure for everyone to bid. The problem would come up if they are required to bid using union wages and then the union has the ability to then turn around and pay their workers less than the minimum wage.

 

No matter how you cut it, the unions can't have it both ways. Either you want the high minimum wage or you don't. If you want it high, then you have to live with the consequences just like any other business.

 

I'm not really following your discussion about unions(construction) undercutting the wage market, probably because I've never seen it happen. I think it's the SEIU that's, in part, behind the $15 minimum as they've been striking a good deal over the last few years, but Sawant was the 1st to get it passed in Seattle.