The Growing Irrelevancy of Unions

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2009 union membership in the United States comprised of 12.3% of the workforce, hitting an all-time low. Membership has been on a steady decline since it peaked in 1973 at almost 21 million Americans, or 24.1% of the workforce. If this trend continues in another 15-20 years unions will barely be an afterthought. So why are unions headed towards extinction? Two main reasons: first, strong-arm tactics have left the American worker disgusted and; second, the gross inefficiency of unions cause irreparable harm to industry, the economy and the consumer.

The union movement has the distinct displeasure of being associated with organized crime and unsavory characters like Jimmy Hoffa and Andy Stern. At my school, George Mason University, the stench of lies, deceit, and thuggery of the Service Employees International Union permeates the campus, giving students a firsthand look at how low the union movement has sunk. Recent examples range from the invasion of property of a Bank of America worker and scaring his home alone child to SEIU thugs beating up a protestor in St. Louis – union members have a long shameful history of violence. As more of these tactics reach the light, the more people are turned off by their failed message.

Another reason for their decline is found in simple economics. Unions clamor for higher wages and better benefits – and who wouldn’t lobby for such things? The problem is when you make such demands through collective bargaining, resulting in acquiescence by a company, the overall economy suffers. In order for any company to give its workers higher wages and increased benefits they must draw from company profits. That means higher costs are passed to the consumer, decreased production limits supply and increases demand, new jobs cannot be created, and competition is stifled. Unionized companies can’t compete in a nonunionized world – that’s why General Motors is failing and Honda is thriving.

In any industry sector when a merit based system is utilized the most talented and hardest working employees are given higher wages and better benefits because their productivity leads to higher profits for the company. Union leaders don’t understand basic economics or, more likely, they don’t care. They fight to prevent dismissal for even the most incompetent. Ineffectual workers lead to decreased profits, unsafe working conditions, and drives wages of productive workers down while passing on the bill to the consumer.

To further emphasize this point look no further than the American auto industry. Up until obligatory reorganization with their government bailout, the United Auto Workers Union forced General Motors to pay laid off workers almost full wages and benefits for up to ten years after leaving the job . If you purchased a car from General Motors prior to January 2009, then part of the sticker price went to these controversial “job banks” to pay former employees to do absolutely nothing.

In New York City teachers awaiting disciplinary hearings for offenses as serious as sexual misconduct are still paid their full salary. Some teachers sit in these “reassignment centers” for up to 6 years, costing taxpayers around $65 million a year . Is it fair for Americans to pay up to $70,000 a year per offender in education taxes to the salary of some sexual predator that sits around and plays solitaire all day?

Unions have outlived their usefulness. Stricter laws enacted in the past few decades combined with a vigilant judicial system prevent the most egregious of labor violations. The economy, even in its current state, still is conducive for unskilled and skilled Americans to find work. The media often serves as a check to unfair labor practices, exposing and ultimately decimating violators.

The writing is on the wall. That is why you see union pushing hard for the Employee Free Choice Act, which would replace the secret-ballot union forming process with publicly signed cards, leaving the procedure open to intimidation – one of the last desperate attempts of a dying movement.

As unions fade deeper into obscurity we shouldn’t shed a tear. These corrupt and inefficient organizations have been sticking it to the American consumer and taxpayer for a long time. While they assuredly will not pass away quietly, let’s do everything we can to make unions a nothing more than a bitter memory.

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About the author

Alan Moore

Alan Moore is a conservative activist and public relations expert in NoVA. Follow Alan on Twitter: @SecPress