The Why of Unions
I am pro-Union. As a professional with a master’s degree, chances are good I am unlikely to work in a unionized job, but that does not change my basic support for Unions.
Unions serve all workers, not just their members. Corporations hold an unfair advantage over individual workers for a simple reason - there are more workers than jobs in many industries. An individual employee is literally at the mercy of his/her employer - he or she can be fired, have their shifts changed, their compensation altered and has little or no effective recourse. Unions help level the playing field. Rather than negotiating as an individual, Unions allow employees as a whole to bargain with corporations. The corporation’s advantage in terms of resources is greatly reduced by Union policies which save a portion of dues to assist employees during strikes.
Unionized workers are able to effectively bargain for better pay, hours, and treatment in the workplace. WalMart has a long standing anti-Union corporate policy. Attempts to Unionize WalMarts stores are met with the bitterest of resistance. Stories abound of workers being mistreated by WalMart for attempting to organize. Apparently a favorite tactic is to require employess to stay informed about their schedules, then changing a pro-Union employee’s to an early shift after he/she leaves for the day; the employee is then written up for an unexcused absence when they arrive at what they thought was on time.
Within the broader job market, the presence of strong Unions keeps wages high even in non-Union shops. The logic goes two ways - first, to attract employees, non-Union shops have to pay competitive wages and second, if they wish to prevent union organizing, non-Union shops will pay higher wages and treat their workers better. My grandfather was a loyal Union man most of his working life (he was a welder). Even to the end of her days, my otherwise conservative grandmother considered herself a loyal Democratic voter because of their defense of Unions and her positive experiences with my grandfather’s union. Unions have been guilty, in the past, of biases against women and ethnic minorities but those days are largely in the past.Â
As a general rule, Unions have been largely free of corruption - the most notable exception being Jimmy Hoffa’s Teamsters, who, totally without irony, supported the Republicans. Unions have a greater obligation to remain ethically above board than do corporations, who answer to a smaller group of people.
Organized labor has long been regarded by free market fundamentalists as the most deadly enemy of idealized laissez-faire capitalism. Opposition to the very principle of organized labor is a core value of modern movement conservatism. And, rightly based on history, the pro-corporate movement conservatism should fear Unions. Historically Unions have served as a powerful brake on corporate misbehavior. Strongly Unionized industries have historically provided superior pay, benefits, retirement and work environments than their non-union counterparts.
Unions empower lower income workers politically. That may not sound important, but consider the potential impact on politics if the US had say 20% of its workers organized rather than 11%. Given the strong relationship between organized labor and Democratic politicians and policies, George W. Bush would never have gotten anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Southern and Western states have long histories of antipathy toward organized labor - and have laws which make organizing more not less difficult. In addition, under Republican presidents since 1981, federal agencies have been more pro-corporation than pro-labor, further hampering organizing. Reagan’s infamous firing of the air traffic controllers was intended to send one message - if you are a worker, the Federal government doesn’t have your back.
I’m not some pro-Unon Polly-anna. Unions have the potential for corruption, they can grow arrogant. But I also think the structure of organized labor makes it easier to correct problems - local chapters can withhold funds from corrupt national organizations, they can bring direct pressure to bear to remove unresponsive national leaders. Because they must answer to members, Union leaders have great incentive to stay honest.
As a major policy inititiaive, progressive groups at all levels should partner with Unions. It’s time to build union power in America again.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
I thinks Unions is one of the most important institution to maintain a democracy.
November 12th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Union workers are more likely to be able to afford the products they make.
Few studies have been done, but even big seasoned developers will tell you that at the end of the day, union labor gets the job done better, cheaper, and faster.
One should then ask, why do more developers not use union labor?
Even in this down economy, building trade unions cannot keep up with demand.
Why?
1. In States like Utah, there is an anti-union climate. To wit: The Ut State Leg, passed a law reversing a Salt Lake City rule that all city contracts must be performed by Unions.
2. Cost estimates for construction from Unions are always higher and more realistic, while non-union shops always under bid them. This creates better pro-formas all around (Banks, owners,partners).
3. A fundamental misconception that Milton Friedman applied his free-market theory to labor.
This is false.
Friedman approved of Unions in free market terms:
Several years ago he said:
This comment is a classic example of his bitterness at being wrong and reflects his lifelong disconnect between his supply-side micro/macro philosophies and the reality of modern societies.
Friedman advocated minimizing the role of government in a free market as a means of creating political and social freedom. Republicans today, as well as our pro-voucher friends, are seeing today how wrong this concept is.
Its funny how Republicans hold out Milton Friedman as the prophet of modern economics and present his statements where convenient, as gospel.
But Milton Friedman also supported various libertarian policies such as decriminalization of drugs and prostitution
You see, Milton Friedman discounted the effects of racketeering (ala the Telecoms, Health Care industry), white collar collusion (mainstream media), and the extent to which economic institutions subordinate the “public good” (sub-prime loans) and the will of the people and governments. He thought he had left that all behind in the Soviet Union.
May he rest in peace.
Our conservative Utah friends would like to go back to the Ozzie and Harriet days of the 50’s. Someone needs to tell them, that in order to have that happen, the average worker needs to be able to buy a decent house, raise four kids and take annual vacations to Disney Land and send all his kids to college.
There is nothing wrong with minimum wages except when too many people are earning it.
November 12th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Cliff - the interesting thing about the minimum wage - in today’s dollars, the min wage in the mid 1960s was over $8/hour - still not a living wage, but almost $3/hour more than we pay today. Even more importantly, increasing the minimum wage has no effect on employment - claims by conservatives that increasing the minimum wage will lead to increased unemployment are untrue.
It’s not conclusive by any means but . . .
There are several grocery stores within easy distance of my house. One is Union,two are not. The Union store has lower turnover, better service, more knowledgable staff and is cleaner. Long before I knew the store was organized, I would shop there before the other stores. The Union employees seem to feel more empowered in their workplace than the non-union employees.
I think there’s a connection between Union membership, attitude toward work and employer and employee satisfaction.
November 12th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Without the empowered downside of Labor in some measure of control, what positive up side for basic society can there be?
Je me Souviens. We are Sovereign. In all ways, everyday, to involve personal and collective economy. Dammit.
November 15th, 2007 at 10:52 am
I’m a community organizer in New York, so I have seen first-hand how organized labor and low-income community organizations are the sole method for the working class to achieve power in our society the way it is currently configured. Your point on the union-political relationship is right on, and I dream of the day when this country has every person that would benefit from a union actually participating in one. As my boss, an African-American former actress, says, organizing is the only thing that will save her people.
I would reccomend Gabriel Thompson’s book “Calling All Radicals” to anyone who is interested in how organizing, specifically community organizing, can help bolster our increasingly diminishing democracy.