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Unions Are for Fighting the Boss. Don’t Turn Them Into Toothless Guilds. (jacobin.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Being in a union,” Schrager complains, “costs money.” Even beyond membership dues, “unions work by compressing wages (and often the terms of advancement) in negotiations on behalf of all employees.” This, she says, hurts more “productive” workers by dragging their wages down to a level closer to that of their “unproductive” fellow workers.

Ceilings for thee but not for me. Libertarian ideology insists that there are select, exceptional people--extraordinarily innovative or productive Randian heroes--who must be rewarded limitlessly at the expense of the plebeians. Unfortunately for them, you really have to believe yourself to be one of those exceptional people to buy into that belief system, and unions by their nature are a repudiation of it.

This type of commentary is frustrating, but the labor momentum despite this "traditional wisdom" and other factors detailed in the article is a sight to behold.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ceilings for thee but not for me. Libertarian ideology insists that there are select, exceptional people–extraordinarily innovative or productive Randian heroes–who must be rewarded limitlessly at the expense of the plebeians.

and almost invariably, the supposed gap between "productive" and "unproductive" workers is negligible anyways!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Theoretically, if you are "extra productive" at a specific thing, there is a position you can move into where you do less of the things you're less productive with and more of the thing you are productive with. And if you are "extra productive", that should mean less effort for you to put into it: your reward is now less effort at work for the same amount of time and production, and if the thing you're doing is more complex or dangerous, that slrt of position should be negotiated for better pay by the union.

Instead, the "extra productive" person gets exploited by the employer until they burn out or are Peter Principle'd.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

The reward for exceptional hard work...is more work. Maybe you'll get an extra half a percent raise at the end of the year, but the increase in wages never matches inflation, even if you max out most corporate performance review scales.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

TL;DR of the linked article

Unions are having a resurgence as workers organize and strike for better conditions. However, Allison Schrager argues unions need to reform by cooperating more with employers on flexible arrangements rather than fighting for higher wages and protections. The author criticizes this view, noting unions have been winning gains through collective action. While some are interested in joining unions, labor laws heavily favor employers during unionization efforts through intimidation tactics. Despite these barriers, unions still appeal to many workers by offering better compensation negotiated through collective bargaining. Schrager suggests unions should operate more like insurance providers than advocates for workers, but the author argues this would undermine their purpose of improving conditions through collective power.

The piece highlights the ongoing debate around whether unions help or hurt workers and the economy as labor activism rises again in the US.

Archive.today link to jacobin.com

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