Wages



Wages

Introduction

Wages are basically remunerations that are paid to the employees by an employer. It may be estimated as a pre-determined work-based amount of money, or at a rate on hourly basis. It is dissimilar from salaried work, which is comprised on a time period that is fixed. In the U.S., for most of the workers, wages are determined by market forces, or else through labor union negotiation on the behalf of workers that is known as collective bargaining (Kristin & Cecilia, 2007). In this paper, there will be a brief overview of the four main areas that are: wages and wage-related issues, employee benefits, institutional issues, and administrative clauses. Secondly, a method will be recommended that could determine the employee wages for preventing any wage-related grievances from unions along with its reasons. Finally, there will be a description of the recommended methods along with the description that how the recommended methods could prevent wage-related grievances.

Overview of Four Major Areas

All work-related contract negotiations more or less pivot on, and thus, most of the grievances deal with four main areas in the context of wages, which are described below:

Wages and Wage-Related Issues

A minimum wage rate is established at the federal level by the Fair Labor Standards Act that is required to abide by each state, amongst other provisions. In the United States, numerous cities have laid down their own minimum wage rates that are comparatively a bit higher that the level decided by the federal. For the specific state or federal government contacts, the co-called existing wage rates must be paid by employers as it is determined in accordance with the Davis Bacon Act or its equivalent.

A survey was conducted by Business and Legal Reports which specified the biggest wage related issue as the minimum wage rates. Though, advocates put emphasis to provide hourly wages on fair basis to workers, as there are some major issues with this system of minimum wage. The problems that arise from the wage-related issue of minimum wage rates are unemployment; work and welfare incentive; limited anti-poverty advantage; impact on minorities; and lessened opportunities for training (Nelson, 1995).

Employee Benefits

Employee benefits are different non-wage compensations that are provided to workers exclusive of their normal salaries or wages. In cases, when a worker exchanges the wages in cash form for another kind of benefit so it commonly refers to as arrangements of 'salary exchange' or 'salary ...