Mr. Alterman is confusing the right to organize with the power to compel an unwilling party to negotiate. The U.S. courts have been clear on a number of occasions that there is a Constitutional right to form and join a labor union. They have also been clear, except in the instance of labor unions, that there is no right of a private organization to force another party to negotiate. To put this in perspective, let’s say that somebody - a private party - wanted to buy your house and you didn’t want to sell. Can you imagine being forced by law to negotiate and if you failed to reach an agreement being subject to penalties for failure to bargain in good faith. That’s what a businessman is faced with under America’s private sector labor law. It is rather amazing for Mr. Alterman to take exception to the idea that Republicans, when given the opportunity would attempt to reduce the legal immunities and special privileges labor unions enjoy. Organized labor has gone out of its way over many decades to destroy Republican political prospects. Why would anybody be surprised if Republicans did the same? I have studied these issues for more than 40 years. The best explanation I have found for the decline of labor unions is Michael Wachter’s “Labor Unions: A Corporatist Institution in a Competitive World.” It is available online. I commend it to the reading of those interested in a better understanding of these issues. Another aspect of this question worth noting is that American workers don’t want labor unions. In 1999, the Gallup Poll asked “Would you personally like to be a member of a labor union?” Only 20 percent said “Yes.” In 1984, the AFL-CIO hired Harris Associates to try to figure out why they were going down hill. Part of Harris’ report was that a very strong majority of American workers would vote against a union in their workplace. Interestingly, Harris found that an even greater percent of those who had worked in a union workplace and were now union free would vote against unionizing. Labor unions are a relic of a bygone era. The idea of changing our laws to give them even greater special privileges to prop them up for a while longer borders on the absurd.

I was a union man at my last job, which was at Pima College.

On the whole, though I’m not opposed to unions I’m not a fan of them, either. If businesses are complying with labor laws and anti-trust laws (granted, in some cases that’s a BIG “if”), then capitalism and market forces would force a business to treat their workers well or eventually close up shop.

However, at a place like Pima College the union is very necessary. As I stated in another story, no one at PCC is ever held accountable for anything…and this includes the administrators and supervisors. The union was the only thing there ensuring that staff’s rights were observed and that policies governing staff were complied with.

My own experience…my first supervisor at PCC has a personal problem with me (meaning NOT professional). He treated me different than the other employees, and he wasn’t even discreet about it. About once a month he would schedule a “one on one” meeting where he would spew off about what a bad employee and a bad person I was. He would ignore the fact that the campus had elected me to staff council by making up these stories about how hated I was there. Well, one day I asked the shop steward to join me in one of these demotivational sessions. The sup didn’t like that. He got HR on the phone and tried to get the steward kicked out. Well, HR told the sup that I had the right to the steward being there. The sup again told me what a bad person I am…but after that meeting he never again called one of these “one on one” sessions, and I worked for that jerk another nine months after that.

Were their accountability at PCC, the sup would have been held accountable for not being willing to separate his professional responsibilities and his personal feelings. He would have been either fired, or moved to a position more befitting his skills…meaning NOT supervision. But, since there is no accountability at PCC, the union there is necessary and helpful.

My point…unions can be good, and they’re not just about money.