Big Labor Uses Wage Laws to Boost Numbers: Study finds union carve outs in many minimum wage hikes

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

Unions may be pushing for President Obama’s massive minimum wage hike, but many seek special carveouts from existing wage laws, according to a new study.

The Chamber of Commerce analyzed dozens of minimum wage laws in cities across the country and found that many of the statutes exempt unionized employees from the requirement. Unions exploit these exemptions in order to make union labor more competitive with non-union shops.

“Some local ordinances in particular include an exemption for employers that enter into a collective bargaining agreement with a union,” the report says. “This ‘escape clause’ is often designed to encourage unionization by making a labor union the potential ‘low-cost’ alternative to new wage mandates, and it raises serious questions about whom these minimum wage laws are actually intended to benefit.”

The rent-seeking society in action! Whatever happened to the concepts of liberty of contract and equal protection under the law?