Labor unions are a controversial topic in the United States amongst workers, having a union membership rate of 34.4% in the public sector and only 6.5% in the private sector. I do realize that unions can have some perks such as ability to collaborate together, worker protection, higher wages, and better benefits, and in the local police unions offer accountability for officer actions, I do not think that working in a union is something that would best suit me.
Autonomy is something I insist on having in my life, and I believe that a union might hinder my ability to make my own decisions in the workplace. Workers are bound by decisions of the union, even if they do not agree. Unions can discount performance and education of workers while focusing on seniority as the indicator of success and promotion. I would not agree to paying fees for a union where I was not able to make my own decisions about the trajectory of my career and success.
In my opinion, the articles show a lot of good about unions, mostly in terms of money and benefits offered to employees, minimizing economic inequality. “The Cost of a Decline in Unions” points towards economic justice: “A full-time construction worker earns about $10,000 less per year now than in 1973, in today’s dollars, according to Rosenfeld. One reason is probably that the proportion who are unionized has fallen in that period from more than 40 percent to just 14 percent. All the focus on labor’s flaws can distract us from the bigger picture,” Rosenfeld writes. “For generations now the labor movement has stood as the most prominent and effective voice for economic justice.” This statement just asks a question to me- “Do I want to work for an organization that is economically unjust in the first place?” The answer is NO.
Choosing to work for an organization is your own choice, and staying within that organization is also a choice. Unions have closed the economic gap where there should not have been one in the first place. If I am working for an organization that treats workers unfairly and unjustly, I need to identify this and make better choices. This is where my autonomy comes in once again, the ability to make your own choices, and not have to rely on those choices being made for you, whether you agree or not, you have to abide.
