From time to time — and I think this is becoming more frequent — The Chronicle of Higher Education runs articles that have virtually nothing to do with higher education, but are just opinion pieces wherein professors expound on their political beliefs. The May 11 issue contains a good example (subscriber site). The piece, entitled “How the Employee Free Choice Act Would Help Colleges” is a hymn of praise to the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, which is Big Labor’s dream bill in this session of Congress. It would compel employers to recognize and bargain with a union just on the basis of signed cards and not a secret ballot election.
The authors of the piece take the tooth fairy view of labor unions, writing that if the bill were to become law, “It would mean better wages, benefits and working conditions for all employees.” So how would this bit of special interest legislation “help colleges”? Well, because unions help to elect leftist politicians who not only do good things for the environment, rights for women, universal health care, affordable housing, etc, but also provide greater support for education.
How, exactly, do unions help elect such politicians? They spend lavishly on campaigns with funds obtained from the workers they represent, whether or not those workers want to provide the money. There is nothing that keeps anyone from donating money voluntarily to the sorts of politicians who promise Utopia through government controls. Unionization is a means of compelling those who wouldn’t contribute to such politicians (or not as much as they will have to with the unavoidable union middle man) to do so. Forcing workers to accept union representation they may not want and pay dues that can be used for purposes they don’t agree with is profoundly authoritarian. (The vexed issue of worker free speech rights is covered in my book Free Choice for Workers.
Americans have free choice in religion. They can attend and support any church or no church and change their minds at any time. Free choice with regard to labor unions would look the same way. Unfortunately, that isn’t what the people who claim to be interested in the rights of workers want.
