Don’t Want Collective Bargaining? Why Unions Won’t Go Away

Suppose Bruce Rauner, Scott Walker, Rebecca Freidrichs (teacher whose case on mandatory union dues is before Supreme Court)—and many others— get their wish of severely weakening or abolishing collective bargaining. Will unions wither and die? No. Unions flourished before collective bargaining, mostly as organizations that relied on militancy—sit-down strikes, mass protests, coordinated strikes by area unions at multiple employers, etc. The point of collective bargaining was to take labor struggles off the street, and out of the parking lot, and into a conference room where bargaining would replace intimidation.

Would the end of collective bargaining be the end of unions? Yes, if you lived in Iran or North Korea, where labor unions are brutally repressed for their mere existence. Even China today allows unions and strikes are very common there—and no, this is not why China’s economy is falling (look at a centrally planned economy that over stimulates industrial sectors, builds cities no one wants, doesn't let its currency float in a free market, etc.).

Labor unions fully anticipate the loss of dues, and have proposed the concept of minority representation. Click on this. This means that unions could represent only the people who voted for it, paid dues, and supported its politics (just like Rebecca Freidrichs is arguing to the Court). The problem there: It's not practical to have a union for, say 40%, of the workforce ... those folks would probably bargain better wages and benefits than the unrepresented group; and the unrepresented group would be affected by strikes over which they have no say. Also, click here. 

The bottom line is that unions will survive if the Freidrichs case eviscerates mandatory dues. Unions will tend to withdraw from formal collective bargaining, and fall back to constitutional rights of assembly and a profusion of employee laws that limit unjust dismissal. They will use social media into shaming employers to do more for workers. Unions won’t go away, they will adapt.