--- title: Unions Say It's OK for Businesses to Sidestep the L.A. Minimum Wage description: Los Angeles labor leaders are asking for a change to the newly passed law raising the minimum wage to $15. They want an exemption allowing unionized businesses the right to pay less than minimum wage. authors: - name: Jacob Davidson url: https://money.com/author/jacob-davidson/ at_money_since: 2014 articles: 106 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/JakeD former_staff: true published: '2015-05-27T20:20:13.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T05:55:01.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - labor law - los angeles minimum wage - Minimum Wage - pubdesk - Unions word_count: 226 canonical: https://money.com/los-angeles-minimum-wage-unions/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![GettyImages-178346448](https://img.money.com/2015/05/gettyimages-178346448.jpg) Earlier this month, the Los Angeles City Council voted in favor a new law that would increase the city's minimum wage [from $9 to $15 an hour](https://time.com/3889882/los-angeles-minimum-wage/) by the year 2020. Yet the *Los Angeles Times* [reports](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-los-angeles-minimum-wage-unions-20150526-story.html) that labor officials, who until now have been strong supporters of the wage hike, are asking for a last-minute change that would allow unions the freedom to collectively bargain for wages that are *lower* than the minimum. "With a collective bargaining agreement, a business owner and the employees negotiate an agreement that works for them both," Rusty Hicks, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said in a statement. "This provision gives the parties the option, the freedom, to negotiate that agreement. And that is a good thing." Some business leaders suspect the sudden about face by the organization, which represents over 300 unions in the L.A. area, might be a tactic to increase membership and enhance the power of organized labor. Ruben Gonzalez, a senior vice president with the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, which opposed the wage legislation, told the *Times* he believes labor leaders are hoping to use this exception to pressure companies into unionizing, thereby allowing them to avoid minimum wage rules. The city council's Economic Development Committee is scheduled this Friday to review an ordinance enacting the new minimum wage law. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/los-angeles-minimum-wage-unions/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Labor Unions", "item": "https://money.com/labor-unions/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Unions Say It's OK for Businesses to Sidestep the L.A. Minimum Wage" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/los-angeles-minimum-wage-unions/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/los-angeles-minimum-wage-unions/", "name": "Unions Say It's OK for Businesses to Sidestep the L.A. Minimum Wage", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-05-27T20:20:13.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/los-angeles-minimum-wage-unions/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/los-angeles-minimum-wage-unions/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T05:55:01.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Unions Say It's OK for Businesses to Sidestep the L.A. Minimum Wage", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/05/gettyimages-178346448.jpg", "width": 4000, "height": 2667, "caption": "GettyImages-178346448" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jacob Davidson", "url": "https://money.com/author/jacob-davidson/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/jacob-davidson/#author", "image": "https://money.com/content.money.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/jake-davidson-2.jpg?crop=35px%2C18px%2C872px%2C872px&resize=640%2C640&quality=85&strip&ssl=1", "email": "jake.davidson@yoh.timeinc.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/JakeD" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-05-27T20:20:13.000Z", "description": "Los Angeles labor leaders are asking for a change to the newly passed law raising the minimum wage to $15. They want an exemption allowing unionized businesses the right to pay less than minimum wage.", "abstract": "Los Angeles labor leaders are asking for a change to the newly passed law raising the minimum wage to $15. They want an exemption allowing unionized businesses the right to pay less than minimum wage.", "@id": "https://money.com/los-angeles-minimum-wage-unions/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-16T05:55:01.000Z", "wordCount": 226, "keywords": [ "labor law", "los angeles minimum wage", "Minimum Wage", "pubdesk", "Unions" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Political economy", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_economy" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Labor unions in the United States", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_unions_in_the_United_States" ] } ] } ] } ```