Labor unions, in and of themselves, are not a violation free markets. In fact, labor unions can provide great benefit to the economy as a whole, thus improving the economic life of all Americans!
Labor unions are also an act of exercising freedom! All individuals have an inalienable right to associate with each other, and to coordinate in an effort to achieve legal, legitimate objectives.
Looking back to the late 19th century, the American economy was rapidly turning from one of agriculture to one built on industry. The size of businesses grew at an incredibly rapid rate, giving them a huge advantage over individual employees. A contract for employment was no longer born of a mutually beneficial negotiation, but instead, negotiations were boiled down to nothing but whatever the employer said it would be.
Naturally, many individuals decided to band together in an effort to increase their ability to negotiate effectively with the large corporations over terms of employment. This process allowed individuals to achieve economic justice for themselves and their families.
These unions, organized from the ground up, also protected America's republican system of government. How you ask? By providing a natural market alternative to government socialism. Laws were then created to insure the individual employees freedom to negotiate together through a collective agent.
Unfortunately, some of these laws were misguided, having been written by opportunistic politicians, and the balance of power between labor and management slid in massive disproportion toward labor.
To be more specific, the balance of power went to the advantage of a handful of union leaders. Today, the tremendous power of the labor unions, now concentrated in the hands of only a few individuals - the union leaders - has become a serious threat to America's economy, and our republican system of government.
The political power of these "union bosses" directly impairs the economy by forcing employers to accept contracts which promote inefficiency and reduced productivity. This results in higher consumer prices. And what do higher prices for consumers mean? A lower standard of living for every American.
This extremely concentrated power, also creates a negative effect on the political life of individual Americans, due to the incredible influence on government that this small group of union leaders can (and does) wield. The political power of only a few individuals, the union leaders, substantially dwarfs the power of an individual voter.
We now have a massive power gap, which compromises the freedom of tens of millions of Americans who may wish to cast a dissenting vote and be heard.
Today's union leaders also have a powerful system to raise billions of dollars for political purposes. Through compulsory union membership, they can force individual employee's to fund their pet political agendas, and directly influence legislation without ever running for public office.
Union leaders, in taking the money of individual employees, and spending it on political purposes without regard to an employee's wishes, not only violates the employee's inalienable right to property (income), but also violates their freedom to choose how, or if, they wish to use their earnings politically. And we're talking BILLIONS of dollars!
Since individuals have the inalienable right to associate with others, they therefore have the right to not associate as well. By forcing employees to join a union by law, threat, or otherwise, an employee's right to free association is directly violated. In all of history, a society has never advanced by taking away an individual's natural right to make his or her own choices.
President-elect Obama's "Employee Free Choice Act" (EFCA) provides a monumental education in politics. Why do I say this? Because EFCA does exactly the opposite of what it's title claims!
One of the fundamental principles of the American system of government, is the right to vote privately. This ensures that all individuals have the power to vote how their personal conscience and reason guides them, free of any type of outside coercion. If EFCA passes however, it will strip millions of employee's of their right to vote privately.
The ramifications of this is that union leaders will know exactly who didn't vote in favor of the union, giving them a unprecedented ability to harass and even threaten the employees who disagreed.
"I ultimately quit this line of work when a senior Steelworkers union official asked me to threaten migrant workers by telling them they would be reported to federal immigration officials if they refused to sign check-off cards ... Visits to the homes of employees who didn't support the union were used to frustrate them and put them in fear of what might happen to them, their family, or homes if they didn't change their minds about the union.
Card check organizing drives give the union more power over the employees ... We [union organizers] knew how to make the pressure so great that most workers would feel powerless to refuse ... " - former
