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WAGE Act Pros And Cons

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While the opposition to the bill largely has not made itself aware to the public as of yet, there are several changes proposed that are likely to bring criticism and opposition of the bill based on the reaction to prior attempts to change the NLRA and the current political and economic climate, especially with the upcoming 2016 Presidential elections. One of the greatest challenges that the WAGE Act will face is the criticism for its support of back pay for any worker injured in violation of Section 7 of the NLRA regardless of their immigration status. This section of the WAGE Act directly overrules the Supreme Court’s decision in Hoffman Plastics Compounds Inc. v. NLRB. Hoffman Plastics held that illegal aliens were not entitled to back pay …show more content…

With the WAGE Act, instead of or in addition to filing a complaint with the NLRB, employees or unions would be allowed to file a private right of action in courts and be entitled to any remedies available under the NLRA and if successful also receive reasonable attorneys’ fees. One of the criticisms with a failed predecessor of the WAGE Act, the Labor Law Reform Act in 1978, was that it would create increased filings of complaints, therefore allowing employees to harass employers costing time, money, and energy. With employees and unions being able to file suit for violations of the NLRA this same argument could be leveled here, that employees and unions will be extremely litigious and the number of cases filed against employers will increase thereby increasing costs, time spent on litigation, and flood the court systems with endless litigation that could make the courts run less efficiently. Therefore, it is likely that this argument against the WAGE Act will surface once debate on the bill picks up and knowledge of the act becomes more …show more content…

Like the Labor Law Reform Act, the WAGE Act addresses remedial issues with the NLRA, though each bill targets differs on the type of actions it looks to punish, the WAGE Act on most ULPs, and the Labor Law Reform Act on election related ULPs. However, the WAGE Act has a better chance of surviving Congress based on the differences in the composition of Congress and the changes to the Senate filibuster. In the 95th Congress in which the Labor Law Reform Act was 61 Democrats, 38 Republicans, and 1 Independent, however despite having 61 Democrats in the Senate, the Senate Democrats could not muster the support to get the 60 votes required to prevent filibuster. Today the composition of the Senate, is 54 Republicans, 44 Democrats, and 2 Independents, worse for the Democrats now, but with the upcoming elections, the 2 Independents caucusing with Democrats and the ability of 51 votes to undue filibuster, the thought that the WAGE Act could be filibustered and prevented from going to a vote in the Senate is not as strong which separates the Act from the Labor Law Reform

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