Fifteen Dollar Minimum Wage Vs. Repealing Right to Work
As progressive as I am, I am not impressed with raising the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour. Don’t get me wrong, I think its a good idea even though its unlikely to pass the Senate, but there are other ways to help the working class that would have a less proportional affect on small businesses and more permanent benefits like repealing right to work legislation.
Right to work laws are laws that prohibit labor unions from compelling employees to join them. The basic definition makes right to work laws sound like a matter of personal freedom. If you do not wish to join a union, why should you be forced to join and pay union dues? However, in many cases living in a right to work state means lower wages and more hazardous conditions for workers.
Around half of all US states have right to work laws mostly in the South and Western states. According to a 2011 study by the Economic Policy Institute, wages for employees who work in right to work states were on average 3.2% lower than employees with the same job in non right to work states. Employees in non right to work states also were 2.6% more likely to have employer covered health insurance. The larger salaries and higher percentage of employer subsidized health insurance can be directly related to the presence of labor unions in non right to work states. states were employers are able to higher non unionized employees for certain jobs mean they can bypass union protection of employees and refuse to higher employees that belong to a union.
So what does repealing right to work have to do with me being unimpressed by a federal fifteen dollar minimum wage? The fifteen dollar minimum wage increase is once again the proverbial “throwing a dog a bone.” While the increase may initially help some workers, as the cost of living goes up, eventually we will be back to the same place we are now. But if right to work laws are repealed, unions will be able to contentiously negotiate for better working conditions and increased wages for employees.
Relying on a federal minimum wage increase also puts to much reliance on the federal government. If right to work laws are repealed, the business of how much a worker should be paid goes back to being between the employer and the employees with the union being there to negotiate on behalf of the workers. Take for example things like the forty hour work week, time and a half pay for over time, and employer based health care coverage. All were the product of union negotiations. Labor unions offer continuous protection while minimum wage increases offer temporary relief.
Even though I am for minimum wage increases, I am aware they do have some negative effects on small businesses. Large companies like Amazon or Walmart could completely survive paying all of its employees at least fifteen dollars an hour. But, smaller business especially restaurants in areas were the cost of living is lower, may struggle to afford to pay its employees fifteen dollars an hour. But ending right to work laws and increasing union membership would primarily affect large business. Negotiating what is fair is the main responsibility of a union. A union would not ask for wages that are high enough they would cause a business to fail because it would cause the people it represents to lose jobs.
The are even some cases were union membership can be good for business. Writer Sarah Klein, found that bushiness with unionized employees had much lower turn over rates and higher production from unionized employees. A 2017 report from the Society for Human Resource Management found the average cost to higher and train a new employee was around $4,129. And that includes all industries, not just high level white collar positions. This report also does not include the work lost when a business cannot find employees quick enough to fill a vacant position, so the actual loss when a business has a high turnover rate is much high.
Less turn over mean business have to spend less on training and recruitment. An appreciated employee will be a productive employee and business that spend less on training and recruitment will be able to pay its employees a high salary
Inconclusion, my main pessimistic impression of the fifteen dollar minimum wage increase is it just is not a permanent solution. It temporary increases the living standard of people working minimum wage jobs, but in a few years we will be in the same place we are in now. Repealing right to work laws and increasing union membership is the only permanent solution.
