Are All Unions Created Equal?

     The controversy over public sector unions isn't about to
go away.  Public sector unions, and the promises of unfunded
benefits they have extracted, will be a problem for some time
into the future.  Why don't private sector unions create the same
problems?

     Private sector unions were empowered by the federal
government.  State and local employee unions were empowered
by the states.  The public sector unions operate in a different
environment and under different rules  Not surprisingly they also
achieve different results.  Private sector unions are empowered
by laws first enacted during the administration of Franklin
Roosevelt.  He made it quite clear that he believed government
employees shouldn't be unionized.

     Private businesses have to earn profits or fade away. 
This gives them substantial incentive to not give away the farm. 
Competing businesses that give in to excessive union demands
soon fade away.  Their union contracts and benefits fade with
them.

     One exception to this is the situation where one union
represents all employees in an industry, such as autos and steel
in the 1950s.  With all employers saddled with nearly identical
union contracts, the employers passed the increased costs on to
consumers through higher prices.  When foreign firms entered
the market, the wheels started to fall off this buggy.  The U. S.
auto makers are still haunted by their long ago concessions to
the unions.

     The only limit on giveaways by public sector employers
is the limit on the ability to collect taxes.  Besides, if the
negotiators over spend, it doesn't come out of their own pockets.

     Political action by unions was quite successful in electing
union friendly negotiators to sit on the opposite side of the table.
The unions also gain enactment of laws that add to union power. 
As a result union wages and benefits bear little relationship to
the value of the services provided.

     Only in the public sector can employers long continue to
pay employees more than the value of what they produce.  In the
private sector it is a cold reality that if employees don't produce
more than $1.00 of value, the employer can't continually pay
them more than $1.00.

     Eventually that same reality comes home in the public
sector.   There are limits to what the taxpayers will and can pay
for.  We are banging against that limit.  One way of dealing
with this is privatization.  In other words, end the over paid,
under productive government jobs and replace them with private
sector jobs where employers have no choice but to keep costs
below what they can charge for the services.

     Some jobs will still remain in the public sector.  We must
deal with the unfunded benefits promised to these employees. 
All government employees who have soared into the wage and
benefits stratosphere must be brought back down to earth.

     We should start with the question, Why should unions, or
anyone else be empowered by government?  In liberty without
government interference everyone is free to interact with willing
individuals.

     Government interference disrupts this natural state by
granting some individuals the power to exploit others. 
Government action always creates winners and losers.  Not
surprisingly, the winners like it and the losers don't.  The battles
between special interests rage on.

     Government employees should have the natural right to
form voluntary associations.  That is they should be free to form
unions.  The question is, What should those unions have the
power to do?  I only have the space to slightly consider one
thing the unions shouldn't be allowed to do.

     The states should end exclusive barging rights.  Forcing
anyone to accept representation by another violates freedom of
association.  Unions should be limited to representing those who
freely join the union.

     More about this next time.

aldmccallum@gmail.com
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Copyright 2013
Albert D. McCallum
18440 29-1/2 Mile Road
Springport, Michigan 49284