All union rights have been created through legislation.

The prevailing thought is that unions are good and that they enhance fairness and increase prosperity. Most politicians would rather be caught in a compromising scandal with Charlie Sheen than publicly advocate reducing the power of unions.

Instead, politicians vociferously support the union interests even if it means bigger deficits. Former New Jersey Governor , Jon Corzine once stood at a union gathering and said: “I will fight to get you a good contract.” He said publicly what many others only say (and frequently say) behind closed doors. The unions support the election of the politician and the politician then fights for a better contract for the union.

All union rights have been created through legislation (state and federal) and their power can be reduced via legislation as well. There is nothing in our constitution that creates union rights. I advocate their constitutional right to assembly (in their non-working hours), their right to free speech, and even their right to not show up for work (as long as they can be fired for dishonest sick days). But governments and private companies should be free to either negotiate with these groups or not. But lately the right to collective bargaining is being heralded as a constitutional guarantee.

So we have several decades of union strength based on the power they were given in various laws. Our schools treat the union movement as a deity and kids are taught about the wonderful benefits of unions. Kind of self-serving isn’t it?

Today the media consistently equates the act of demonizing unions with demonizing the underlying work or the workers. But I can and I do respect the role of a teacher, policeman or firefighter without supporting their right to have more powerful union rights.

In the 1930’s unions were a force for worker safety improvements, which was definitely needed. That was great but that was then. Today this safety function is managed by OSHA (at the federal and state level), and workers compensation legislation. And unions spend few of their resources working on safety issues today.

Today there is primarily one mission of any union: “Give me, give me!”

The unions actually try to make the argument that they help organization efficiency. Does anyone really believe this? Clearly they can inflate wages and compensation to the benefit of their workers. But there is no free lunch. Someone is paying for it and it that someone is all of the rest of us that are not in that union.

In summary:

Unions distort wages at the expense of everyone else and they hurt the productivity of the country.

Seniority systems reduce the incentive for a worker to give his best and make it difficult to keep the best worker when the work force needs to be trimmed.

Unions put private businesses into bankruptcy. The jobs gradually shift overseas.

Unions support liberal candidates that feel no responsibility to negotiate hard with them.
Unions delay adjustments to work rules and compensation as the market demands. They tend to dig in so hard that they drive a business into bankruptcy rather than rapidly facilitating the necessary change. In the private sector the union inflexibility is self-correcting because their victims simply close up shop. But in government and other monopolies (gas and electric companies), the unions gather strength and their employees receive a bigger share of the pie than their non-union neighbors.

The unions make changing anything hard; they require expensive and drawn out negotiations. Instead of making 25 small adjustments during a month, the union requires an expensive process to change a few things during a year-long negotiation. By the time an lenghty negotiation with a private company is completed the company is frequently out of business and their products are being manufactured in China.

Is it any wonder that union membership has dropped so dramatically in the private sector? They simply don’t work well.