Minimum Wage Laws And Labor Unions

In 1936 by President Roosevelt who signed the Fair Labor Standard Act(FLSA) making a federal minimum wage of .25 cents an hour (equivalent to $4.18 today)(Grossman) in order to maintain a “minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being, without substantially curtailing employment”. This wage only affected about 20% of the entire labor force. The Fair labor Standards act was not always looked at being the best way to go, when it was enacted just like in today 's society it was fought against to raise the minimum wage. Many corporations were arguing against the creation of the

This research paper will be addressing minimum wage and the comparison and correlation of it from when it was first instituted through the Fair Labor Act of 1938 to now in 2015. This paper will also go into the inequality of pay concerning women as well. Some factors that I’m focusing on are instances that have affected minimum wage, firstly the affect that unions had in guaranteeing the continuing rise of minimum wage along with inflation until it began to stagnate in the 1970s, which seemed to happen in correlation with the decline of companies encouraging unions; and, secondly what has happened to the work force as a result of women transitioning from free home and domestic work to paid jobs in the market place in such great numbers.

The minimum amount required for an employer to pay their employees is called minimum wage. Chris Fitzsimon stated that “Minimum wage is a part of the Fair labor Standards Act which sets a limit on how much a person can make, whether it means only making that specific amount of income but no less than that.” Minimum wage has been a big problem in the political realm as well

Raising minimum wages is a contestable issue because it is debated in wide and varied audiences. Minimum wage is near the top of economists’ interest; they are looking for the connection between low wages and poor job markets. Each country sets its own laws and regulations regarding wages. For this reason, it has significant importance to policy makers and workers in each of those respective countries. Social activists have also found interest in the topic due to the fact that those who earn a minimum wage tend to come from poor minority families. Furthermore, the average American should have the strongest interest in the conversation because most citizens have been paid a minimum wage at some point in their life. Due to this fact, the idea of a significant federal minimum wage increase in America is open for debate specifically to rejuvenate the job industry, improve living conditions for citizens, and strengthen the economy as a whole.

This paper gives an insight on the debate whether the minimum wage should be raised to $10 an hour or not in the United States. There is a big debate in the United States regarding as to whether the minimum wage should be raised to $10 per hour, but before we go into details of the debate lets first understand what is meant by a minimum wage and how did it come into existence. A minimum wage is the lowest wage that is paid to workers by their employers, and the government legally sets it. A minimum wage is a price floor, workers are not allowed to sale their services below price, and the government legally sets the price (Neumark et al 2008). Although the minimum wage is put into effect in jurisdictions, there exist different opinions

The law was controversial amongst business owners who were required to pay workers minimum wages based on hundreds of different industry codes. The codes created confusion amongst workers as well as corporations and resulted in situations where workers were making different hourly rates at different times of the day (Jones, 2011). The NIRA was eventually ruled unconstitutional by the decision in Schecter Poultry Corporate v. U.S in 1935. Finally, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the last major piece of the New Deal legislation, which was signed into law by Franklin Roosevelt. The FLSA was the first blanket federal minimum wage law passed by Congress, which covered workers in nearly all industries. The touted benefits of a federal minimum wage were stated by FDR, “I laid down the simple proposition that nobody is going to starve in this country. It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country” (Roosevelt, 1933). Roosevelt wanted to be clear that he did not define a living wage by the ability to survive rather that those receiving a minimum wage should be living in some level of comfort. The FLSA of 1938 established a minimum wage of “$0.25 an hour for the first year, $0.30 an hour for the next six years, and $0.40 an hour in particular industries” (“Fair Labor Standard…”,

The minimum wage is the mandated price floor paid on hourly or daily basis for the employees regulated by the government or the union. In “Federal Minimum Wage”, New Zealand and Australia enacted the first minimum wage law during the late 19th century to prevent employers’ exploitation of workers. In 1912, Massachusetts passed the first minimum wage legislation in the US that was enforced for women and children, and fifteen more states followed in the next eleven years. However, the Supreme Court abolished the minimum wage laws in 1923 because the laws violated the women and employers’ Fifth Amendment or their right to negotiate a binding agreement without government interference. In the US, the first federal minimum wage law passed 25 cents per hour as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to help struggling workers during the Great Depression (“Federal Minimum Wage”). Since 1938, the minimum wage law has increased twenty-two times to $7.25 to keep pace with inflation. However, minimum wage laws have exemptions in some field of works such as tipped employee who earns $2.13 an hour in direct wages if the amount plus the tips received is at least the mandated minimum wage. In addition, agricultural workers earn their salaries by the number of bags or weight multiplied by the crops’ selling price (“Minimum Wage and Overtime Basics”).

The minimum wage was established in the United States by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 at 25 cents per hour. These laws are broadly supported by the public. Congress enacted these rules to combat “labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency, and the general well-being of the workers” (Sharp, 2013 p. 71). The purpose and intent of

The unions were brutally crushed by the industry leaders of the time period, with both private and federal armies being used to break strikes, strikebreakers being hired to take over the jobs vacated by the workers on strike, and blacklists being made to ensure the strikers never got a good job again. It was not until 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act established a minimum wage, at 25 cents an hour. However absurd that paltry amount of cash seems, it marked a turning point for the United States, and paved the way for better working conditions and better pay. Unfortunately, minimum wage laws have faced heavy opposition from a number of powerful political and economic figures, and the federally mandated wage bumped along until it reached the current minimum wage of $7.25 in 2009 (“History”). This means in over seven decades the United States has seen a grand total of a seven dollar increase in minimum wage. According to dollartimes’ “Calculate the Value of a Dollar in 1940”; in the span of the 78 years between 1938 and 2016, inflation has decreased the value of the dollar by 1542.53 percent. Even though the $7.25 of today is far better than the $.25 of 1938, the market of the United States has also changed, and while it was possible to work ones way up from minimum wage in the 20th century, the 21st century has a far lesser demand for skilled labor, meaning the jobs requiring skilled labor offer more than minimum wage already, and the jobs offering minimum wage rarely need more than the unskilled labor plentiful in the United

The controversy over what to establish as the official minimum wage in the United States has been debated and argued over for many years. Due to inflation, the gradual increase of pricings due to a saturation of printed currency, the minimum wage for workers has to be increased in order to compensate for the ever-fluctuating value of the U.S. Dollar. Many today are rising to the conclusion that a minimum wage of fifteen dollars an hour is necessary. This motion is designed to keep those who have minimum wage income out of poverty and to increase the amount of money in the consumer’s pocket overall. However, this particular increase in minimum wage will lead to the inevitable downfall of the United States’ economy and be a catastrophe for the working class.

In United States, we hear the government, businesses argued about minimum wage. Whether it should be raised or leave it the way it is. But, what exactly is minimum wages? Minimum wage is the least amount of money per hour that must be paid to a worker after surrounding a service according to the law. Many working class families’ lives depend on this minimum wages. There are few families who make less than $15000 a year who feed their families on this salary and still pay bills from it. Over the past year, the federal government has been working toward raising the minimum wage but not all the congress women and men agree on this takes, also not all employers are ready to raise the amount per hour for their employees. Over the last few years, the government has argued on whether it’s right to raise the minimum wage, to distinct who it will benefit more. There have been several laws that have been passed to raise the minimum wage but, the federal government decided to gives each states the right to choose whether they would want to raise their minimum wages.

An important matter in public policy is minimum wage. Researchers Neumark and Wascher states, “It has been one of the highest controversy topics in the political arena.” Laws regarding minimum wage have been imposed by the federal government and changed within the years since 1938 when former president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards (FLS) from $0.30 to $7.25 an hour. Previously in the labor force, those in the mining, manufacturing, and transportation industries only compromised thirty-eight percent of the workers in the Unites States. However, through the years, Congress has notably expanded the coverage and subsequently increased the minimum wage rate. For that matter, the FLSA currently has about 85% covered from different labor forces and it gradually extended its coverage to state and local government employees. In 1957, the first minimum wage law, known as the Minimum Wages Act, was enacted to regulate the wages of certain industries. Since then, the minimum wage has been raised 22 times to this day (Wilson). Often at times, living wages goes head to head with minimum wages. Low wage workers argue the standard of living versus standard of payment. Living wages is a wage that is high enough to maintain a normal standard of living, whereas a minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers (Sessoms). Published in 2004, Deborah M. Figart, the author of “Living Wage Movements: Global Perspectives,” states, “Wages are

Without this union representation, the danger of appalling work conditions, unlivable minimum wages and 70-hour work weeks may develop to become a part of the working America's future, much like it was in the past. Now and in the future, labor unions will remain an important player for this nation’s work force and quality of life for those families (Lott, 2013). America's employed families need this type of representation and fair treatment in the workplace that they deserve.

Since the case of conflict of interest often arises in the workforce, many laws and policies were enacted to protect the rights of its people by providing justice. Various unions were formed to fight injustice by the government and the employers. One exception policy implemented on the basis of the justice theory is the minimum wage requirement. Although numerous families were working multiple jobs at minimum wage and still struggling, imagine how bad the financial conditions would be without the protection of the minimum wage law. Throughout the years, unions have been formed to act as the voice of the employees, to protect the employees from company exploitation. It is an astounding fact that people protected under the unions are sometimes making 50% more than those who are not in the union and they are

In this economy for one to be considered an independent, they should be working and have a source of income, however the jobs that are present do not pay a living wage. This means the employees are paid for their standard labor, which means the employees are living check to check and they are not saving any money in case of an emergency. In the recent article “Sorry Advocates, the Minimum Wage Debate is Not Over” In Forbes article it illustrates the big debate between the benefits and the cons of the minimum wage and the biggest concern is that it causes job losses in an area that people are moving to new places looking a better job that pays a better minimum wage. With this being done businesses are not having employees and causing them to shut down. Although, some people live on living wage, some people have full time jobs that help provide them with full benefits such as health insurance and contribution to their 401k and for them to be protected, the labor unions help with their protection. The main duty is for them to bargain collectively for their employees, which means they have the right to go on strike if the they feel as if their wishes are not being met by their employees. This is considered important, however in the current economy Labor unions have decreased in that the industrial work has decreased and most of them have gone overseas. If the company is not listening to the labor unions then the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) can get