A vast majority of Americans share economic growth through wages received through labor, rather than investments. But since the 1970s, wages for the majority of American workers have stagnated, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), and this wage-stagnation has broadened to include even college-educated workers.
As the Raising America’s Pay Initiative shows, wage stagnation is not inevitable. It is a direct result of public policy choices made by those in positions of wealth and power that wish to continue to intentionally suppress the growth of wages in the United States.
Between January of 2011 and February of 2013, legislators from 31 states introduced 105 bills that aimed to repeal or weaken core wage standards at a state or local level, according to the National Employment Law Project (NELP). At the root of many of these bills is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a “forum for state legislators and private sector leaders to discuss and exchange practical, state-level public policy issues,” according to the ‘About ALEC’ section of their homepage.
The problem with ALEC is that it allows private corporations and organizations to get their foot in the door of the country’s legislative process and influence legislation itself. Many corporations and their leaders benefit from lower wages, so they work towards pushing existing and new legislation in that direction in order to continue to suppress wages. In recent years, ALEC-affiliated legislators across the country have made efforts to weaken existing standards for wages and workplace environments that have been put in place in order to protect income and economic security of low-to-minimum wage workers.
One of ALEC’s top priorities has been passing state laws that preempt local minimum wages. Most preemption laws are created specifically to block certain types of policies, particularly those that benefit workers, but not all local authority. Preemption is not, in fact, a matter of political principle for conservatives, but rather it is a tactic to suppress pro-worker legislation pushed by Democrats. This is why ALEC and conservatives get along so well in regards to wage suppression and anti-worker legislation.
A minimum wage of $7.25 an hour already isn’t enough to get by on, and wage theft continues to run rampant across the country. ALEC and its conservative allies want to make it easier to steal money directly out of workers’ pockets, all while making it harder to get a raise.
