Labor unions were originally created to protect our nation’s workers and ensure they were paid an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work.  We agree to the principle of this and applaud the success that labor unions have had in both improving wages and working conditions in this country.  We do not however regard it prudent to allow labor unions to place unreasonable stress on the nation’s economy.

1.       Labor unions have no place in the public sector.  There is a conflict of interest when legislators responsible to the taxpayers write labor laws that favor a public union workforce to whom they are indebted for their continued reelection. 

2.       Labor unions must be voluntary.  No person shall be forced to join a union and all organization ballots must be secret ballots to protect the workers against retaliation from overzealous union members or management. 

3.       No union shall be allowed to control or directly influence public policy.

4.       No union shall manage their own pension fund.  All pensions shall be funded through a third party independent of both the employer and the union. 

5.       Membership in any union shall be entirely voluntary.  It shall be illegal for a union or business to contractually require any person to join the union as a condition of their employment. 

6.       It shall be illegal for any union to force a non-member to pay union dues as a condition of employment. 

Argument

Our Congress and our State Legislatures represent the people.  Yet many in the Congress and the State Legislatures are indebted to the very bodies for which they create labor law.  Campaign contributions swell the bank accounts of many who then must act to control the budgets of K-12 and Higher Education.  Similarly, the same legislative bodies that govern the police and fire and government transportation workers also are placed in the position to enact legislation that can materially impact the lives of these people.  How is it possible for our governing bodies to contain costs and exert downward pressure on labor expenses when at the same time they are accepting money from the very labor organizations that represent employees who work for the government?  Some public employee unions control workers responsible for transportation and public safety.  As such they present an obstacle to the economy should they perform work slowdowns or strikes.  For example, witness the Air Traffic Controllers that President Ronald Reagan was forced to fire in 1981.  No union grievance should be permitted to completely interrupt an economy.      

If the purpose of a union is to ensure that union workers receive and honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work and to protect union members from management that would disregard labor law it should be clear that the government itself would always possess an ability to address these laws positively or negatively and thus the existence of the union does nothing more than place another layer in between the workers and management. 

Labor unions provide a useful purpose for laborers in that they provide leverage to the workers that enable them to bargain collectively with the employer.  However, their relationship to their employer must be restricted to the employee relations issues.  No labor union should ever be in the position to dictate foreign policy.  As an example, Longshoremen should never place themselves in the position to determine whether ships can be loaded if the representatives of the people have declared that commerce will take place. 

No organization, not the business, not the labor union and not the government should ever have fiduciary responsibilities over the pension funds of those who work for them or who are members of their organization.  Too many circumstances exist where these organizations can mismanage or misappropriate funds that should be set aside within fully funded accounts for the workers’ retirements.  Too many pension funds have been squandered with the expectation that the funds would eventually repaid but never are.  Witness the worst Ponzi scheme of all time, Social Security.  The federal government once managed this fund as an off budget item, as a separate accounting item but under the control of the same Congress.  Unfortunately, Lyndon Johnson moved the Social Security Trust onto the budget to soften the deficit he was experiencing fighting the Vietnam War.  Congress was able to do this for Johnson because they had access.  Had the SSN funds been in a separate fund owned by the employee but held in trust for their retirement by financial institutions, Congress would never have had access and “borrowing” would not be possible.  But, because Congress did have access, the Congress used those funds to pay for other programs including other entitlement programs.  They left IOU’s in the fund and those IOU’s are not worth much when we continue to spend at deficit levels.  There are other unfortunate circumstances that have deprived retirees of their pensions at a time when that was all they had to rely upon or a principal piece of their future income and they had no ability to make up any loss to their standard of living when the funds were not there.  The Teamsters’ Union has sent its president to jail in the past through misappropriation of pension funds.  Pension funds are best protected when they are funded through a financial institution and the employee owns his/her own fund.    

This country was formed with the goal of preserving the liberty our founders had as Englishmen.  If liberty is a primary goal then all labor organizing efforts should be by secret ballot and no worker should ever be forced to join a union.  Workers asked whether they want to organize into a union must have the right to say yes or no without the fear of reprisal from either the union or the employer. 

I understand the argument that non-union workers in a union plant benefit from the labor negotiations paid for by union workers.  But, so do administrative staff and other non-union positions.  It is immoral to require any man or woman to contribute to any organization when they choose to not be members.