All Posts Tagged With: "collective bargaining"

Crony Unionism: Government Sector

In my last column I illustrated how private-sector unions depend on government cronies to keep them afloat. In the government sector it is much, much worse. It is nothing less than a conspiracy between politicians, bureaucrats, and unions to create and sustain a fourth branch of government specifically designed to increase the cost, size, and [...]

21Sep2011 | Charles W. Baird | 2 comments | Continued

The Modern Union versus Workers’ Rights

The raging controversy in Wisconsin over eliminating collective bargaining “rights” for government employees cast a bright and harsh light on public-sector unions. Some commentators have distinguished public-sector unions from private-sector unions, but the vested interests of the two are much the same. Both are expressions of what might be called “the modern union,” which came [...]

22Jun2011 | Wendy McElroy | 4 comments | Continued

Wisconsin Labor Brouhaha

Wisconsin’s been through quite a row. The new governor, elected without the support of most government-employee unions, proposed to cut back the scope of collective bargaining for most state workers. Gov. Scott Walker says the budget measure is needed to save money as well as government jobs for the debt-ridden state. Is the governor’s proposal [...]

21Apr2011 | Sheldon Richman | 3 comments | Continued

Guest blogging: Unions

The recent conflicts in Wisconsin and other states over unions have a generated much heat but little light. That is because most discussion asks the wrong question and ignores the economics of unions. The right question is not whether unions are good or bad. A union is a voluntary association of employees that attempts to [...]

2Mar2011 | Jeffrey Miron | 42 comments | Continued

Government Union Protests Spread

“The offensive by Republican governors to tackle the power of public employee unions sparked new clashes Tuesday as protesters descended on Ohio’s capitol and Democratic lawmakers in Indiana fled the state to avoid a vote on anti-union legislation.” (Washington Post) The politicians have dug us a nice hole. FEE Timely Classic “Government Workers Are America’s [...]

23Feb2011 | Foundation for Economic Education | 1 comment | Continued

Henry Hazlitt on Unions: Part II

In my last column (November) I discussed Henry Hazlitt’s views on the economic effects of unions, exclusive representation and mandatory bargaining, labor’s alleged bargaining-power disadvantage, and the right to strike. Here I will discuss three other aspects of Hazlitt’s views on American unionism: involuntary unionism, government-employee unionism, and what he called the “Grand Illusion” of [...]

8Jul2010 | Charles W. Baird | 2 comments | Continued

ObamaCare and Unions

Last November 7, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3962, crafted by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and whimsically titled the Affordable Health Care for America Act (AHCAA). It was the House’s version of ObamaCare. American labor unions, whether representing government- or private-sector workers, enthusiastically endorsed the measure. Yet most unions have been effective at securing good [...]

24Mar2010 | Charles W. Baird | 1 comment | Continued

Worker Freedom in Peril

The Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF) recently published its 2007 Index of Worker Freedom (IWF).The index ranks each of the 50 states on the basis of ten variables that affect the freedom of workers. “Freedom” is defined properly as the absence of interferences with individual worker choices. After explaining the ten variables used and identifying [...]

1Oct2008 | Charles W. Baird | 0 comments | Continued

Should Professors Be Allowed to Unionize?

A current dispute at a liberal-arts college in Wisconsin prompts me to ask whether professors should be allowed to unionize. For many years I have been interested in questions of labor law and probably would have been interested in this dispute even if it did not happen to involve my alma mater. Carroll College is [...]

1Mar2006 | George C. Leef | 0 comments | Continued

The Government-Created Right-to-Work Issue

The principles involved in right-to-work laws are identical with those involved in [workplace antidiscrimination laws.] Both interfere with the freedom of the employment contract, in the one case by specifying that a particular color or religion cannot
be made a condition of employment; in the other that
membership in a union cannot be.

1Jan2006 | Charles W. Baird | 0 comments | Continued

Australian Labor-Relations Sell-Out

In mid-March, at the behest of the H.R. Nicholls
Society, I traveled to several Australian cities speaking
on the subject of the American labor market and
the lessons that it might have for labor-law reform in
Australia. Along the way I discovered that Australian
labor-relations regulations are much more irrational,
contradictory, and oppressive even than our own
National Labor Relations Act.

1Oct2005 | Charles W. Baird | 0 comments | Continued

Employee Free Choice and Top-Down Organizing

The good news is that American union membership in the private sector fell from 8.2 percent in 2003 to 7.9 percent of the labor force in 2004. (In 1900 the figure was 7 percent without any union-friendly legislation on the books.) Over the same time the market share of government-employee unions fell from 37.2 to [...]

1Jun2005 | Charles W. Baird | 0 comments | Continued

Truman’s Attempt to Seize the Steel Industry

In U.S. history many of the most drastic incursions on private property rights have sprung from the conjunction of a threatened work stoppage, owing to a union-management dispute, and the government’s desire to expedite a war-production program. Such a conjunction underlay the government’s nationalization of the railroads, the telegraph lines, and the Smith & Wesson [...]

1Mar2004 | Robert Higgs | 2 comments | Continued

Government-Sector Unionism

In my February column I gave two examples of the decline of unionism in the private sector and pointed out that the picture is very different in the government sector. Whereas the unions’ private-sector market share in 2001 was 9 percent, in the government sector it was 37.4 percent (down slightly from 37.5 percent in [...]

1May2002 | Charles W. Baird | 3 comments | Continued

Unions Draft Temporary Workers

Under the doctrine that the Constitution is a “living document” that must constantly be reinterpreted to keep up with the times, the Supreme Court often ignores its plain text and imposes what it considers to be good results. Last August, in a consolidated decision involving two cases—M.B. Sturgis, Inc., and Jeffboat Division—the National Labor Relations [...]

1Aug2001 | Charles W. Baird | 0 comments | Continued

A Light Goes Out in New Zealand

I have often referred to New Zealand’s 1991 Employment Contracts Act (ECA) as a model of voluntary unionism that we in the United States would be wise to emulate. Notwithstanding its shortcomings—including its mandatory personal grievance provisions, its creation of the specialist Employment Court, and its failure to do anything about the minimum-wage law—the ECA [...]

1Sep2000 | Charles W. Baird | 0 comments | Continued

Capital Letters

To the Editor: In response to Charles Baird’s article “Sources of Pro-Union Sentimentality” (Ideas on Liberty, March), I would like to respond with a few points overlooked. Although I agree with most of the points brought up by Professor Baird, I think unions do play a legitimate role in the marketplace for several reasons. First, [...]

1Jun2000 | FEE Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Older Entries

    • © Copyright 2011 Freeman - Ideas on Liberty. All rights reserved.

    57 queries. 1.223 seconds