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Alexander Cosponsors Rubio Bill to Allow Employers to Give Unionized Employees Raises for Performance


Says legislation “will give employers the freedom to pay their employees more for a job well done”

WASHINGTON, D.C.,  Feb. 12 – Senate labor committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today cosponsored legislation offered by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) that would enable employers to pay individual employees more based on their job performance, rather than seniority in a collective bargaining unit. 

Alexander said, “This bill will give employers the freedom to pay their employees more for a job well done, for their dedication and hard work, rather than for their time spent in a union.”

The Rewarding Achievement and Incentivizing Successful Employees (RAISE) Act, would amend the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to allow employers to give merit-based compensation increases to individual employees, even if those increases are not part of their collective bargaining agreement. Nearly 7 million American workers are covered by collective bargaining agreements regulated by the NLRA, which establishes their compensation and prevents employers from paying these employees more than the agreements allow. Currently, collective bargaining agreements create “seniority ceilings,” which often reward unionized employees based on time served, rather than performance.

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