Hollywood Minimum Wage Revolt

The WSJ reports that LA actors are suing their labor union to prevent it from forcing small theaters with fewer than 100 seats to pay union members at least $9 per hour.

The rebels, who seem to have a better grasp of economics than the union leadership, warn in their lawsuit that forcing the rules on theaters that used to be exempt will force many to “close altogether.” They add that “all will have greater difficulty producing original works.”

As the WSJ concludes, “Bravo to the dissident actors.”

(via Mark Perry)

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

Should a Libertarian Work for a Union?

An EPJ reader sent an email to both Bob Murphy and me, with his permission after removing his name an identifying details I reproduce his email here, along with a response:

I am emailing the both of you because...you are both similarly aligned with the beliefs that I also hold. However, there is something that I must tell you guys-- I am a union-member.

I know that this makes me seem a hypocrite due to my also being an Austrian (of the Rothbardian persuasion) and that I portray myself as such. In all honesty, I do consider myself a true Austrian.

Before I left XXX to move back home to ZZZ, I talked to my father to align a job for myself. He, having retired as a union Ironworker...had many connections in the heavy industrial/construction industry. The thing is that in ZZZ and these industries are entirely unionized and require all contractors to be union, as well. When I arrived in ZZZ, I was hired by two of the subsidiaries of the 'Company Y' to work in their office/shop to learn the ropes, but I had to get a union card before being allowed on any of the job sites.

The Coming Obama Bailout of Labor Unions

Now after relatively long years in the political desert of limited legislative power, the Congressional and presidential friends of big labor hold both of these branches of government in their hand, writes Richard Ebeling.

His complete analysis is here.

Obama Bad Basic Economics Plan #1: Force Unions on Companies, Raise Minimum Wage

From the official Obama-Biden Office of the President-elect web site:

Obama and Biden will strengthen the ability of workers to organize unions. He will fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Obama and Biden will ensure that his labor appointees support workers' rights and will work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers. Obama and Biden will also increase the minimum wage and index it to inflation to ensure it rises every year.

Obama and Biden support the right of workers to bargain collectively and strike if necessary. They will work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers, so workers can stand up for themselves without worrying about losing their livelihoods.