Are Democrats in Congress really not supporting a Republican bill
to allow union workers to earn more money? That was not a
misprint: Republicans in Congress are fighting to give union
workers raises while Democrats are sitting on their hands.
In America if someone works hard most of the time they get ahead
and are rewarded for their effort. Unfortunately this is not the
case in many union workplaces. Federal law bars millions of union
workers from receiving wage increases every year and the
Republicans in Congress are trying to do something about it.
Earlier in June Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) and Sen.
David Vitter (R-LA) introduced the Rewarding Achievement and
Incentivizing Successful Employees Act, or RAISE Act, to allow
union workers to earn raises based on merit. As of this writing
not a single Democratic senator or congressman has co-sponsored
the bill, which is surprising since according to the nonpartisan
Opensecrets.org organized labor has contributed over $670 million
to Democrats since 1990 and only about $51 million to
Republicans.
Currently, a union worker’s wages are dictated by collective
bargaining agreements made between a union and an employer. The
collective bargaining agreements not only create a floor for
worker’s wages but they also establish a ceiling. The vast
majority of these agreements grant pay increases on seniority but
not merit, in other words, no matter how hard an employee works
the only way they can see an increase in their salary is by
longevity.
The National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency which
oversees union bargaining, and the courts have held that
employers with collective bargaining agreements can only deal
with a union and not with an individual employee. This means in
most cases an employer cannot reward a union employee for being
more productive without violating the National Labor Relations
Act (NLRA.)
The RAISE Act would amend the NLRA to allow employers to pay
productive workers more than the base amount set in the union’s
collective bargaining agreement. James Sherk, a fellow in Labor
Policy at the Heritage Foundation, asserts that if the RAISE Act
becomes law, union worker’s earnings could rise by between $2,600
and $4,300 per year. Compared to the recent Obama temporary tax
cuts, the RAISE Act could allow union members to earn almost
eleven times as much this year as they will be receiving from the
latest short-term tax decrease.
Why are Democrats not rallying behind a bill that could help so
many of their largest supporters? It may be because much of labor
contributions come from political action committees and other
entities bundling cash and not directly from individuals. The
RAISE Act is focused on the individual not a large organization.
It allows an individual to achieve and be rewarded by his own
hard work and not be lumped into a larger group which may not
value or recognize his individual skill or effort. Currently,
contributions from big labor focus on the large scale union and
not the worker. The way many politicians receive cash from big
labor may force them to put the desires and needs of the union
ahead of the individual worker. The RAISE Act puts the priority
on the worker not the union, which may be why many of big labor’s
top contribution recipients have not supported it.
The wage ceiling fails to incentivize workers and harms
companies. A manager or employer is prohibited from rewarding
union members who are more productive and work harder than
minimally required. Workers currently lose opportunities to be
compensated for their extra efforts, which may result in a lack
of motivation that is needed to make a company successful.
Removing the wage ceiling mandated by the NLRA and collective
bargaining agreements will allow both the worker and the employer
to see greater income and proponents of the bill argue, will
significantly help the economy at large.
topics:
Unions, Republican Party, Big Labor
