By calling for exempting unionized businesses from the minimum wage, unions are creating more incentives for employers to favor unionized workers over the non-unionized sort. Such exemptions strengthen their power. This is useful because for all the effort unions throw at raising the minimum wage, laws for better pay have an awkward habit of undermining union clout.

High rates of unionization make minimum-wage rules unnecessary as collaborative wage setting achieves the flexibility goals of a low minimum wage and the fairness goals of a high one.

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Workers who have no real alternative to employment in the unregulated shadows of the labor market are even more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse than workers with the legal right to take low wages.

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The labor ethos of worker solidarity seems hollow if non-union workers are underpriced by union workers and left unemployed or scrambling for unauthorized work.

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Once employers are obliged to pay the same minimum wage to both unionized and non-unionized labor, workers often see less reason to pay the dues to join a union.

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Solution

The correct option is D Once employers are obliged to pay the same minimum wage to both unionized and non-unionized labor, workers often see less reason to pay the dues to join a union.
The paragraph starts by saying that unions are calling for exempting unionized businesses from the minimum wage. This provides incentives for employers to favor unionized workers over those who have not joined one. The paragraph further states that such exemptions increase the power of the union. Unions need this boost in power because though they argue for better pay, minimum wage laws actually reduce the clout of the union.
The key idea here is the rather contrary effect of the minimum wage law on the power of the unions, and the bid of the unions to strengthen their clout with the call for exemption from minimum wage for unionized businesses.
Sentence A talks of the effect of high rates of unionization. It makes minimum wage laws unnecessary as the unions are able to achieve flexible and fair wages through collaboration. This sentence does not complete the given paragraph, which discusses the effect of minimum wage laws on the clout of the union and not the vice-versa.
Sentence B discusses the case of workers without the legal right to take the low wages (as set by the minimum wage law) and no real alternative to employment being more vulnerable to exploitation. This is a new line of thought and does not complete the paragraph given.
Sentence C argues that the spirit of worker solidarity seems hollow if non-unionized workers are under-priced by their unionized counterparts.
This is a thought that seems, at the outset, to be related to the idea discussed in the paragraph. Unions are calling for exempting unionized businesses from the minimum wage. Thus they are encouraging employers to prefer unionized workers over the non-unionized and thus going against the ethos of worker solidarity.
However, this choice is incorrect, as the given paragraph is about why and how unions are seeking to increase their power having worked towards minimum wage laws, which, rather contrarily, decrease their clout. Sentence C does not carry forward the idea in the penultimate sentence about how laws for better pay have the “awkward habit of undermining union clout”.
Sentence D discusses the idea that workers have less incentive to pay and join a union when protected by minimum wage laws. This, clearly, undermines the clout of the unions. Thus sentence D provides a good choice to complete the given paragraph, carrying forward the idea expressed in the penultimate line.
Correct Answer: Choice (d)

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Similar questions

Q. By calling for exempting unionized businesses from the minimum wage, unions are creating more incentives for employers to favor unionized workers over, the non-Unionized sort. Such exemptions.strengthen their power ___ Once employers are obliged to pay the same minimum wage to both unionized and non-unionized labor, workers often see less reason to pay the dues to join a union.

The Taft-Hartley Act, passed by the United States Congress in 1947, gave states the power to enact “right-to-work” legislation that prohibits union shop agreements. According to such an agreement, a labour union negotiates wages and working conditions for all workers in a business, and all workers are required to belong to the union. Since 1947, 20 states have adopted right-to-work laws. Much of the literature concerning right-to-work laws implies that such legislation has not actually had a significant impact. This point of view, however, has not gone uncriticized. Thomas V. Carroll has proposed that the conclusions drawn by previous researchers are attributable to their myopic focus on the premise that, unless right-to-work laws significantly reduce union membership within a state, they have no effect. Carroll argues that the right-to-work laws “do matter” in that such laws generate differences in real wages across states. Specifically, Carroll indicates that while right-to-work laws may not “destroy” unions by reducing the absolute number of unionized workers, they do impede the spread of unions and thereby reduce wages within right-to-work states. Because the countervailing power of unions is weakened in right-to-work states, manufacturers and their suppliers can act cohesively in competitive labour markers, thus lowering wages in the affected industries.

Such a finding has important implications regarding the demographics of employment and wages in right-to-work states. Specifically, if right-to-work laws lower wages by weakening union power, minority workers can be expected to suffer a relatively greater economic disadvantage in right-to-work states than in union shop states. This is so because, contrary to what was once thought, unions tend to have a significant positive impact on the economic position of minority workers, especially Black workers, relative to White workers. Most studies concerned with the impact of unionism on the Black worker’s economic position relative to the White workers have concentrated on the changes in Black wages due to union membership. That is, they have concentrated on union versus non-union groups. In a pioneering study, however, Ashenfelter finds that these studies overlook an important fact: although craft unionism increase the differential between the wages of White workers and Black workers due to the traditional exclusion of minority workers from unions in the craft sectors of the labour market, strong positive wage gains are made by Black workers within industrial unions. In fact, Ashenfelter estimates that industrial unionism decreases the differential between the wages of Black workers and White workers by about 3 percent. If state right-to-work laws weaken the economic power of unions to raise wages, Black workers will experience a disproportionate decline in their relative wage positions. Black workers in right-to-work states would therefore experience a decline in their relative economic positions unless there is strong economic growth in right-to-work states, creating labor shortages and thereby driving up wages.

Which one of the following best describes the passage as a whole?

Q. The trade unions object to a piece-wage system because ___________.

Q. Antyodya is a big trade union, whose members are mainly workers of a manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu. It has been trying to ensure social security benefits to all its workers. It negotiated with the company's management but the efforts failed miserably. In such a situation, what all methods of coercion can be used by the trade union against its employers, to secure a better deal for its workers?

Q. Which of the following is not the reason of Trade Unions to demand for higher wages?

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