Unions and the Common Good

by Brian Dijkema

2.8%: That is the difference between the rate of union membership and the rate of unemployment in the US. Union membership in the US is so low that many Americans aren’t even familiar with unions. What are they? What do they actually do?

Unions are institutions in which workers organize together to bargain collectively with their employers. Instead of employees being bound by individual employment contracts, unions bargain on behalf of all the workers in a workplace. These contracts are typically called collective bargaining agreements, and they set wage levels, working conditions, and provide structures for workplace discipline, how workers are promoted, fired or laid off, as well as structures for resolving workplace grievances. Typically unions take two forms. They will organize workers within a given craft (for instance, electricians, teachers or basketball players), or they will organize workers in an entire workplace of different trades (for instance, all employees, of all trades, in a factory). Unions traditionally bargain on behalf of their own membership, but they also work to establish minimum labor requirements for all workers through law. Minimum wage laws, overtime provisions, parental leaves, mandatory workplace insurance schemes are just a few examples of things unions have won through their lobbying efforts over time. While unions have a long and storied history in the United States, today, as the numbers show, unions are in deep trouble.

You wouldn’t know that unions were in such trouble by following the news, though. This year is an especially active news year for unions–first the death match between public service unions in Wisconsin and now the high-stakes drama of the NBA lockout. This coverage, combined with the regular, and massive, contributions of unions to political campaigns suggest that unions are fit and healthy.

But don’t be deceived. The news coverage and political contributions are nothing more than rouge on the cheeks of a very sick union movement. Unions today are a sallow and pale reflection their past selves.

Why is this so, and why should we care? And, if we should care, what is to be done?

You typically hear two diagnoses. The narrative you’ll hear from the union movements typically involves a marriage of big-business, conservative politicians, free-trade and trade and labor policies which emphasize movement of capital, and a business mindset which views workers as equivalent to coffee beans–a commodity to be bought at market prices.

On the other side you’ll hear stories about how business developed in such a way as to meet the needs of workers while unions focused on protecting their own institutional interests while costing jobs, their members’ money and, often, their members’ freedom.

Each side will point to symptoms which confirm their diagnosis. Unions point to labor policies which undermine trade union rights, or trade policies which have seen American jobs bleed to places like Mexico, China or anywhere else where labor is cheap and unprotected as cause for their decline.

Business will point to corruption of union officials, an unwillingness to consider productivity in bargaining and progressive HR policies within business as proof that the need for unions is over.

Sadly, this is about as far as the discussion goes. People who support unions–and I should note at this point that I am very much one of them–and those who are opposed to them, spend more time disagreeing with one another, and more effort and money attempting to trump the other side through politics, than they do in earnestly, and in good faith, wrestling with three profound questions which lie at the heart of the great divide between the pro and anti-union side. This failure has led to both a decline of trade unionism and a bastardization of business. These questions are as follows:

What is work, and how does it relate to what it means to be human?
What is the nature and proper function of the business corporation, and what is its relationship to individuals and society?
What is the nature and proper function of the trade union?

In my work as a trade unionist–at the local, national and international levels–I found that the answers given by both business and trade union advocates to the first question were eerily similar. Too often the discussion began and ended with economic answers. Too often, business doesn’t spend the time asking itself those questions. Sadly, trade unions–whose role it should be to ensure that business is mindful of these questions–spend very little time on a dialog between those with capital, and those who grow capital through their labor, about the deep, even religious, questions behind the daily grind of work. Instead, they limit themselves almost entirely to the fight over dollars and cents.

There was a time when these questions were discussed, and were highly influential in shaping world history for the better. Christian trade unionists such as Bill Doherty, organizations such as the World Confederation of Labor (a global, Christian, trade union body) and great people such as Abraham Kuyper, Leo XIII, Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, John Paul II and Lech Walesa have all provided both intellectual and practical responses to these questions.

Each was able to afford a proper place to business while challenging the underlying and harmful assumptions that work is simply an economic activity and that workers exist as individual cogs in a morally neutral economy. They recognized, in their words and in their actions, the fundamentally human and social nature of work.

Today’s labor movement would do well to revisit some of these thinkers and actors and to sift through their work to find innovations which would reorient and reinvigorate the union movement. It might be a smaller movement, but it would be better.

As a follow of Jesus, do you see labor unions increasing or hindering the common good?
Are you part of a labor union? Why or why not?

Editor's Note: This image is from here.

Comments

Gary Gaertner

There is no doubt that historically unions did some positive good. However, as with most human institutions; as they have become stronger, Unions have become more interested in power and self-interest than the good of those whom they represent and the good of the whole of society. I believe it is naive to say one is either for or against unions unless you identify the historical context of your assessment.

In today's context, it is my opinion that Unions are part of what is destroying this country.

David Doty

The problem within the essay and the questions posed at the end is that it, like so many views posited in the media, dramatically oversimplifies the issues involved. What influence does the American consumer have, say in demanding quality products at low prices, on the whole equation.

Every management / labor relationship is unique and the market dictates profitability according to price indexing, two more factors nowhere here in sight. Unions have done much good but, like the Internet, it is an institution that is morally inert. Whether we read Bible commentaries or pornography online is dictated by the moral values and purposes of the viewer.

To answer the two questions as specifically as possible:

1. Yes.

2. Not now but have been...for expediency and in particular circumstances.

As moralists we can posit the good and evil of any given situation, relationship, etc. However, the means and ends are in the hands of autonomous groups and individuals that must weigh the circumstances according to their own values. The questions above come down to the likes of "is it better to kill a man or his wife" or "is it better to feed an orphan or her brother."

Dichotomized thinking will not resolve the problems that unions face. Cooperation and collaboration might if all parties can agree on what is ultimately best for the whole.

Keith

I think the union movement needs to go beyond reorienting and reinvigorating. I think it needs to reinvent itself. For example, teacher unions that do not allow bad teachers to be fired are no help--teacher unions that ensure that teaching is of the highest quality and that teachers are paid fairly are tremendously helpful. Which do the unions want to be? Self-protecting? Or truly enriching? They cannot be both. I am highly opposed to unions that merely seek to protect the gains they have in order to enrich themselves and their members.

Fred

As a follower of Jesus I don't believe Jesus said anything about labor unions and no I am not a member of a Union and never would join them, they are the very definition of everything that is wrong with America. They are best represented by the Occupy movement which is nothing more than a socialist group trying to bring down the United States. People don't start businesses to employee people, they start businesses to make money, employing people is just a byproduct of that. Unfortunately the unions operate from the perspective that employers owe them jobs. They like to talk about corrupt big business, but there is nothing more corrupt than unions. As an employer I can tell you that I have great employees and I try to pay them as much as I can. I have great employees because I was able to get rid of all the bad ones after I got here. If they belonged to a union I would still have the bad employees and either I wouldn't be able to pay them well because as bad employees they wouldn't be making me money or I would be out of business because the union would be making me pay bad employees big money I didn't have. Bottom line Unions are good for lazy inefficent workers, and when the company goes out of business they all then collect unemployement and join the occupy movement, while the good workers if they are unemployed look for work. End of Story. Feel free to throw rocks, but I'm right.

Justin Ogden

David, you really make a great point about the media spreading oversimplifications/generalizations that group all unions into one general entity. Hence comments like:

- "Unions have become more interested in power and self-interest than the good of those whom they represent and the good of the whole of society."

or

- "they are the very definition of everything that is wrong with America. They are best represented by the Occupy movement which is nothing more than a socialist group trying to bring down the United States."

We must be aware of the danger of generalizing an individual perspective on a single or group of labor unions to the entire labor movement in the United States. Let's not forget the diverse array of unions that exists in our country today - and the good that they have accomplished in protecting common workplace practices that continue today.

We should also not forget the great lack of trade unionism in developing countries around the world that lack any coherent form of labor law.

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I would also add this brief phrase to each of the aforementioned three within Brian's analysis of unionism in the United States - "in a global economy?"

1. What is work, and how does it relate to what it means to be human in a global economy?

2. What is the nature and proper function of the business corporation, and what is its relationship to individuals and society in a global economy?

3. What is the nature and proper function of the trade union in a global economy?

genesis

as a follower of Gabe Lyons and this web site for many months. It has become obvious that the liberal north east views have taken hold and changed what was once a beacon of light in a dark place, to just another dim pulse of secular non-sense. Lets see,,,,pro union, support the humane society, expound humanistic views,,,and on and on. Gabe I thought you wanted to make a difference? I think like the example you use in your book, of your prouducer friend, you might have been swallowed up by the bright lights and your own popularity. Preach the word brother,,,,thats all you need. Acceptance should not be conditional. Remember you will not fit in, and you cant conform.

genesis

Fred is dead on right, By the way I meant to say northwest.

Dave Doty

@Justin - I like your questions better than the originals! But I will only address one: "2. What is the nature and proper function of the business corporation, and what is its relationship to individuals and society in a global economy?"

I have recently completed a book, entitled "Eden's Bridge: The Marketplace in Creation and Mission," which is due to be released within a couple of weeks by Wipf & Stock Publishers. The central thesis is that the marketplace is an institution of God modeled implicitly in the creation narrative of Gen 1-2. The division of labor (Eve is called helpmate before she is called wife) allows for increased efficiencies, hence increased productivity, the well spring of creating new wealth.

But in the Garden there was no need of wealth. The whole of the market mechanism was created (pre-Fall) as a means to provide for human sustenance (and that in abundance) such that the enduring relationship between God and humankind could be maintained. The Fall isolated humankind from God and the provision of the Garden, and self-service (pure profit motive) took the place of facilitating righteous human relationships, a critical function / purpose of the marketplace.

Notice in the culmination of God's Kingdom, in the New Jerusalem, a city with jewels as foundation stones and gold as plasterboard and asphalt, wealth is 1) enormously abundant (due to the incredible potential currently hidden in competitiveness over against cooperation and collaboration) and 2) therefore moot as a desirable end unto itself.

The ultimate purpose of the marketplace in the world and human society is to glorify God and lead us into holiness, as we take increasing responsibility as our brothers' keepers.

Justin Ogden

@Dave - the book that you wrote sounds fascinating. Drawn to study Labor & Employment Relations here at Penn State as a graduate student, I want to work towards redeeming what has become of work today. I'm fascinated by the ideas of social business, CSR, and the role of third party institutions in the global economy (ILO, UNHRC, etc.) because they all attempt to bring about a fairer form of work for the people in this world.

I think this is one specific realm that is severely lacking in solid, Christian influence (thanks to Brian for writing the article, and Dave for writing the book!!!!). Christians in the marketplace can prove that work is not a lost cause, or that a pure and holy vocation can be found outside of being a pastor or missionary.

Thanks for your thoughts and book Dave, love the point you made about jewels in the upside down kingdom of heaven) and the reminder that "The ultimate purpose of the marketplace in the world and human society is to glorify God and lead us into holiness, as we take increasing responsibility as our brothers' keepers."

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@Dave - What books have been helpful to you in gaining a clearer understanding of the role of Christians in the marketplace?