Why Unions Matter

There are several arguments that people put forward these days as to why trade unions are no longer relevant. Sometimes, it is an off the cuff comment like, “trade unions had a place fifty years ago, but not anymore.” Or, sometimes, they’ll say that the state of the current labour market has evolved to such a point that an individual is only stifled by seniority clauses and wage protection that a union provides. If they get really sophisticated, they simply say that as an individual, trade unions simply can’t help them as much as they can help themselves.

While these are rather weak arguments, they do hide behind a myth that an individual can succeed while the collective cannot. I can understand an individual wanting to work hard and get ahead. I can’t understand how we can build a society with individuals doing what’s best for them while ignoring (or stepping on) their fellow workers or colleagues. Quite simply, I don’t see what has changed within the labour market in the last fifty years. Employers are more powerful than ever and they continue to employ tactics designed to lessen job security, keep wages low all the while maintaining that this has to be done in the name of global efficiency (we must compete!). Sometimes, this coercion is open and on the surface. Take, for instance, the latest revelation to come out about Wal-Mart.

Here the largest private sector employer in the world used openly coercive tactics to beat back a union drive in one of its thousands of stores. Why would they do this? Wal-mart makes billions in profits while employing most of its workers in a part-time fashion for minimum wage. Quite, simply for Wal-Mart, its about power. They refuse to give any say on how to run their business to anyone but themseleves. Workers, are just another commodity for them. Their employees, despite the rhetoric, are not different then their "low low" prices goods.

Employers using illegal tactics to stop employees from unionizing. Paying poverty wages. Laying off workers to cut costs (GM). Falling wages. No really, what has changed again?