And that is the nicest kudos I’ve ever received here. Thank you. Wait until I debunk the “unions were needed in 1900” myth, which I refer to in my earlier post, but do not go into.... It’ll be GREAT!
Good work Dr. 2B. Private sector unions are as anti-freedom as public sector groups. They are not VOLUNTARY associations, they are COMPULSORY. They are protectionist, and block free entry and free trade by more able or productive entrants, a.k.a., competing workers. This denies both the firm owner AND the consumer the economic right to freely trade with the person they’d like.
The “right” to collectively bargain is not a “right.”
Taking away or blocking other people’s rights isn’t “a right.” It is a VIOLATION of basic rights.
I always ask the union members at the college where I teach economics: “Why do I need to get the “approval” of a majority of my fellow employees, before I negotiate and sign my OWN contract? I am a free person, I decide when I am ‘exploited,’ NO ONE ELSE. ‘Collective bargaining’ isn’t just, moral or orderly — it’s tyranny of a majority of individual rights.”
They always ask me, “Hey, why not simply participate in the union? Otherwise your voice won’t be heard!”
See how dumb these folks are? It isn’t a matter of getting the “perfect” collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that concerns me; I OPPOSE “COLLECTIVIST” BARGAINING, PERIOD!!!
Of course, if there is a workplace hazard, such as toxic substances that are harming people on the grounds, then THAT IS WHAT LAW SUITS ARE FOR. But really — do we NEED top-down, ‘central planning’ of each person’s salary, benefits, retirement, work hours, etc etc - equal pay, even for the most negligent and the most productive worker, and seniority based promotion, even if BETTER ENTRANTS are out there, to REPLACE THESE PROTECTED UNIONIZED FOOLS?
How is that honoring the peaceful RIGHTS of the customers — and the shop (capital) OWNER?
Unions protect themselves through legal force from peaceful free trade and continuous beneficial competition
In turn, they reduce and treat customers AND investing entrepreneurs as their SLAVES.
Let’s recap, shall we: Both Public AND PRIVATE COMPULSORY UNIONS:
1. Violate the economic freedoms of business people (capital owners, entrepreneurs)
2. Violate the economic freedoms of prospective new entrants (more able, skilled, friendly and productive competitors)
3.Violate the economic freedoms of consumers (who want good service at the most efficient cost or price — and when unions command a high, protected wage, they aren’t “exploited” — BUT NOW THE CUSTOMERS AND CAPITAL OWNERS ARE!!! So much for Economic Justice.)
Free trade is a human right, as much of a human right as choosing who you will take as your marriage partner. It is an intimately personal decision — the choice of whom to hire to babysit for your children, of whom to paint your family portrait, of whom you will pay to take care of your teeth, or treat your beloved pet dog. NO MAJORITY, NO OTHER PERSON, has the authority to “DECIDE” your economic trades. Only cowardly, collectivist, protectionist tyrants believe they “deserve” the power to violently take this right away from you.
The idea of Majority rule or ‘economic democracy’ (as the compulsory unionists like to call it) in the setting of work hours, individual salaries and terms of trade in markets is nothing more than majority-tyranny.
It has NO PLACE in a civil society of free people.