If a goal is itself unconstitutional, why bother using constitutional means to enact it?
The Democrats Have a Secret Plan to Get a $15 Minimum Wage
National Interest | 3/4/2021 | Rachel Greszler
As Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said, “We couldn’t get in the front door or the back door, so we’ll try to go in through the window.” He claimed that, “The American people elected Democrats to get things done, and they aren’t going to accept ‘process’ as an excuse for failing to [enact a $15 minimum wage].”
. . . after failing to include a job-killing $15 nationwide minimum wage in their partisan coronavirus package, Sen. Wyden and Sen. Bernie Sanders came up with a “Plan B.” It would “impose a 5 percent penalty on a big corporations’ total payroll if any workers earn less than a certain amount,” resulting in potentially multi-billion-dollar penalties on companies for employing even one worker at a wage lower than some lawmakers arbitrarily deem appropriate (presumably $15 per hour).
Sen. Wyden said his proposal would impose measures “to prevent companies from trying to outsource labor” such as moving jobs overseas or replacing employees with contractors.
. . . those preventative measures might have meant requiring employers to justify their business decisions—such as hiring contractors—to government officials.
But working for one’s self is also under threat by government officials who are beholden to labor unions that—instead of gaining members by providing things that workers value—are using their power and influence over liberal lawmakers to enact legislation that would help them drive out non-union jobs and livelihoods.
Next week, the House will debate the PRO Act, which AFL-CIO union leader Richard Trumpka previously warned lawmakers that, “Those who would oppose, delay, or derail this legislation, do not ask us—do not ask the labor movement—for a dollar or a door knock. We won’t be coming.”
Or, worse, they will be coming.
Once considered just a union wish-list, this bill now has a better shot at completely upending the labor market in the United States.
For instance, among other things, the PRO Act:
• Threatens the livelihoods of tens of millions of independent workers.
• Violates workers’ privacy by granting union bosses greater access to workers’ personal information than federal, state, or local lawmakers.
• Strips workers of the basic democratic right to secret ballot elections.
• Invalidates twenty-seven states’ right-to-work-laws that prevent workers from having money taken from their paychecks without consent and given to unions that they do not want to represent them.
