A new report by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics illustrates how Democrats’ cries for a higher minimum wage are nothing but a payday to their union overlords. The percentage of American workers who are making minimum wage or less (service industry jobs that factor in tipping) have dropped from 13.9% in 1979 when the BLS started keeping track of it to just 4.3% in 2013. More and more workers across the country are paid more than the minimum wage.
Yet, wanting to distract from the disaster that is Obamacare, Democrats have decided this is one of the most important issues facing America right now.
Well, distraction would be the least malevolent reason that Democrats want to raise the minimum wage.
As The Wall Street Journal wrote some of the biggest advocates for a higher minimum wage are unions. This seems shocking, at first, until one realizes that most union contracts’ wages are pegged to the minimum wage.
Organized labor’s instantaneous support for President Obama’s recent proposal to hike the minimum wage doesn’t make much sense at first glance… Altruistic solidarity with lower-paid workers isn’t the reason for organized labor’s cheerleading, either.
The real reason is that some unions and their members directly benefit from minimum wage increases—even when nary a union member actually makes the minimum wage. [the Peak emphasis]
…the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union says that pegging its wages to the federal minimum is commonplace. [the Peak emphasis]
We’ve written about this before, but we revisit again in light of the BLS report as it reveals just how much of a naked cash-grab this is for unions enabled by Democrats.
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