Reflections on organized labor’s troubles

The one thing the union apologists have never explained to my satisfaction is what’s changed to make organizing so much harder today — other than employee attitudes. Though they whine about employer unfair labor practices and NLRB procedures, from where I sit, the interpretation of the NLRA and NLRB procedures have been remarkably stable over the last few decades, whilst union membership plunged. Ditto with employers’ opposition to unions and their hardball tactics.

The unions need to focus on their product and prospective customers, and put together something that will sell itself more effectively.

The new coalition doesn’t appear to have fully recognized the inconsistency between concentrating on organizing and collective bargaining and concentrating on political power.

Building a political bloc (dare I say “party”) with clout to influence political decisionmaking in favor of workers’ interests does not require organizing and collective bargaining — and vice versa. These goals even undercut each other.

Union political action undermines organizing and collective bargaining: Taking dues money, including that earned by workers who oppose the union and its political agenda, and using it as political payola, is unfair to many workers the union represents. They’re not all Democrats! This is a reason to vote against union representation (though a represented employee may request not to pay for a union’s political activities).

To the extent unions lobby successfully for labor legislation that supplants protections they would otherwise seek through collective bargaining, they reduce the value of their product.

Organizing and collective bargaining undermines focused union political strength: It’s very expensive. To have a political force, you simply don’t need a majority in an appropriate bargaining union, let alone a hard-fought union contract. You just need committed people working to politically organize diverse workers who have common political goals.

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