I have read that union analyst Richard Berman studied numerous union contracts and published his findings on their terms in The Wall Street Journal in 2013.
He found labor contracts use various methods to trigger wage increases, often setting baseline union wages as a percentage above state or federal minimum wages or mandating a ?at wage premium above the minimum wage. I had heard of this before, including the fact that some union contracts stipulate that following any minimum-wage increase, union and employer must reopen wage talks.
Among other insidious inflationary and anti-business effects, minimum-wage hikes obviously make it more difficult for businesses to hire low-skill workers, who might accept lower wages to gain experience and thus threaten safe union jobs. Obama's magnanimous minimum wage push is a nice way to pay back labor unions who helped re-elect him, by guaranteeing higher wages, increasing union negotiating leverage, and reducing competition for union jobs, to say nothing about its detrimental effects on free enterprise.
The President's latest end run around Congress, his Executive Order unilaterally granting a $10.10 an hour minimum wage for federal contract workers, may seem less than clever or comparatively harmless (Few federal contract workers make under $10 an hour!) unless you match Obama's liberal loyalty to unions with his life-long contempt for capitalism. Mr. Berman's insights seem like common sense to a Conserberal like me. Who needs Congress with a president like this?
Roger Clifford Clapp