In the midst of organized labor’s demands for a $15 minimum wage for all workers comes the revelation that they do not pay this so-called “living” wage to their employees.

The Washington Times reports that as big labor bosses are boasting of their $15 minimum wage successes at the AFL-CIO’s annual summer meeting, at least one usher working the event told the reporter she did not earn $15 per hour.

The woman works at the George Meany Center, which is owned and operated by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)…which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO. 

The fact an AFL-CIO affiliate is not paying its workers the $15 wage the union is not shocking.  We already knew unions don’t really believe everyone should be paid $15. Unions routinely push special exemptions for unionized businesses from the minimum wage laws they actively support.  Such “union escape clauses” allow unionized employers to pay their workers less than $15 (and gives employers a strong incentive to unionize).

What is shocking is how the union responded to the worker’s embarrassing admission.

An ATU official (who refused to give her name) quickly warned the woman not to speak with the reporter and immediately whisked her away.   An ATU spokesman, David Roscow, later told the reporter the young woman is paid $20 per hour. 

The Times then goes on to describe a disturbingly banana republic-esque scene of intimidation and media control:

After saying that the young woman could not be interviewed, he [David Roscow] later arranged an interview with the woman in a locked conference room at the center.  Mr. Roscow and the ATU official who would not identify herself attended the brief interview. 

‘I get $20 an hour,’ the young woman said. 

Asked how long she had been making that wage, the unnamed ATU official ended the interview.”

Wow. The despotic North Korean regime of Kim Jong-un doesn't have anything on the ATU.