As summer comes to an end, many Americans are looking forward to the first celebration before fall: Labor Day. A day to recognize the American worker, whose hard work and dedication make our standard of living possible.
Yet every year, union bosses exploit this American tradition by stealing the spotlight from workers to argue for more coercive powers from the government. Instead of celebrating the workers they claim to “represent,” union officials use this day to bullhorn rhetoric and wield political influence that protects their privileged positions.
Unions today are largely built on power backed by the government. Rather than have to earn the support of individual workers, union officials wield federal law to force workers under one-size-fits-all so-called “representation,” no matter how strenuously a worker might object. In the 24 states without right-to-work laws that make union financial support voluntary, union officials then legally threaten dissenting workers to “pay up or be fired.”
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Even ardent supporters of forced unionism sometimes admit that union boss powers are often used to the detriment of many of the workers they purport to “represent.”
Take former Clinton-era Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, who has never seen a proposal for expanded union boss power he didn’t support. While a Harvard professor of business and public policy, Reich bemoaned changes in the law that “put greater weight on the voluntary aspects of unionism and de-emphasized the necessity for coercion.”
“In order to maintain themselves, unions have got to have some ability to strap their members to the mast,” Reich explained to an Associated Press reporter.
Years later, none other than former Vice President Kamala Harris similarly conceded that many workers are harmed by one-size-fits-all union monopoly contracts. As then-California attorney general, Harris filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court that acknowledged that “unions do have substantial latitude to advance bargaining positions that … run counter to the economic interests of some employees.”
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Union members understand that they are frequently the victims of union coercion, which is why a recent poll by Rasmussen Media Group found that 79% of current union members agreed with the statement, “Workers should never be forced to join or pay dues to a union as a condition of employment.” Nonetheless, union officials continue to push for legislation that will expand their coercive powers.
For example, consider big labor’s top priority in Congress: the so-called “PRO Act.” Under the guise of “reform,” this bill would repeal all right-to-work laws in the majority of states, forcing compulsory union dues and monopoly bargaining on millions of people across the country. But this isn’t the only provision in the PRO Act that’s anti-worker.
Another controversial provision is called the “card check” method of organizing a union. This allows union organizers to bypass the secret ballot method, which empowers workers with the final say on whether to unionize. Instead, card check lets union agents confront workers in person as many times as necessary to pressure and intimidate them into signing “authorization cards” that are then counted as “votes” for the union.
Another item in the PRO Act limits workers’ ability to hold “decertification” votes to remove unions opposed by a majority of employees. These “blocks” and “bars” can keep workers trapped in forced dues for months, sometimes years, even if they unanimously oppose union “representation.” No one could claim this is actually pro-worker.
The ambitions of union officials today are a far cry from the wisdom and warnings of early union leaders, who sought to build union membership on a strictly voluntary basis.
In a 1924 speech to delegates of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) convention, Samuel Gompers, recognized as the father of the union movement in America, said, “I want to urge devotion to the fundamentals of human liberty – the principles of voluntarism. No lasting gain has ever come from compulsion.”
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Voluntarism, the voluntary union affiliation and financial support from workers, is essential if union bosses are going to be accountable to the workers they represent. This ideal is clearly at odds with the agenda of union officials today, who constantly seek new ways to undermine the rights of workers for political gain.
So, this Labor Day, remember that truly being “pro-worker” means rejecting the rhetoric from union bosses who claim workers must be denied their freedom of choice. After all, it’s Labor Day, not Union Day.