A Major Union Just Expanded Its Battle for a $15.00 Minimum Wage

Despite the fact that most union members receive a per hour wage far above the minimum wage, unions are heavy supporters of a higher minimum.

They are probably the number one beneficiary of higher minimum wage laws. The higher minimum wage laws prevent non-union workers to compete for jobs based on price. It is a government-run protection racket for those who are able to get union jobs, at the expense of outsiders.

Thus, it is no surprise that a large California union is seed funding an organization aimed at accelerating the call for a higher minimum wage.

WSJ reports:

It’s called the Fairness Project, officially launching Thursday, and it’s already focusing on three jurisdictions: California, Maine and the District of Columbia, with potentially more to come as funding becomes available. And the group's main backer, the Service Employees International Union’s 80,000-person strong United Healthcare Workers local in California, says it’s talking with a handful more.

“This is the best value in American politics,” says SEIU-UHW president Dave Regan, who last year laid out a strategy to raise wages through ballot initiatives in the 24 states that allow them...They’ve picked a soft target. According to the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, minimum wage measures have been tried 20 times in 16 states since 1996, and all but two succeeded. The earlier victories came in waves, starting with the “living wage” movement in the 1990s. The campaigns even work in conservative states: in 2004, John Kerry lost Florida, but a minimum wage hike passed with 70 percent of the vote.

If they really wanted to honestly name their project they would call it: The Screw Uneducated, Unskilled Blacks Project. Minimum wages prevent the unskilled and uneducated from getting that all important very first job.

Below: Black teenage unemployment rate vs. national unemployment rate.

   -RW

The Latest Winter Plan for Occupy Wall Street

Adbusters, the organization that launched 'Occupy Wall Street,' is advising occupiers:

We can accelerate the #OCCUPYHOMES meme by making a concerted push on December 6 and beyond to set up squats in bank-owned, foreclosed homes. In addition, we can facilitate the #OCCUPYMIGRATION of occupiers from hostile to friendly cities. There are, for example, over ninety tents at #OCCUPYBERKELEY even though #OCCUPYOAKLAND's encampment a few miles away has been shut down.

While the corporate-State chases symbolic tents, we can start consolidating and fortifying our outdoor encampments in friendly territory until we are strong enough to resist foreclosure. Meanwhile in cities everywhere, let's quietly set up local indoor Occupy Homes in every neighborhood. Both of these spaces just might become the bases for our Spring Offensive.

This is likely to mean a lot of plotting by those who want to co-opt the movement, and there are many.

The Service Employees International Union, with very close ties to the Obama Administration, has been busing union members from outside Washington D.C. to participate in Occupy protests in the Capitol.

The SEIU is also behind MassUnited, the  groupt known for the "Bobblehead Brown" campaign targeting  Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who Elizabeth Warren is challenging for a Senate seat.

Should be an interesting Spring. Where will the unwashed be directed?