Labor Day Should Honor Worker Choice, Not Forced UnionismBy Rachel Culbertson and Scott DilleyLabor Day is often branded as the last opportunity for summer fun-barbecues, weekend getaways, and trips to the lake. We remind ourselves about the reasons for holidays at other times of the year, so why should Labor Day be any different? Perhaps this year it's time to view this day through a different lens. In 1882 the Central Labor Union, one of the earliest trade unions in New York City, organized the first Labor Day. Two years later, this "workingmen's holiday" was designated to be the first Monday in September. The Central Labor Union encouraged other states to officially celebrate as well, and with the growth of labor unions came the national holiday. "Worker freedom" at that time was secured by individual laborers voluntarily banding together. Unfortunately, over time the drive toward this vision of worker freedom became a political machine that now operates at the expense of the freedom of individual workers. If labor unions truly celebrate the American worker, why are workers in 28 states forced to pay union dues or fees, even if they don't want union representation? Why do so much of those dues go to serve political interests that many workers disagree with instead of going just toward collective bargaining? Shouldn't unions be more concerned about their constituents' contracts rather than gaining political clout and growing their numbers? It wasn't always this way. American Federation of Labor founder Samuel Gompers believed in "trade unionism pure and simple," something that crossed partisan lines and focused on the worker. While he was president of the AFL from 1886 to 1894, Gompers focused on winning compromises from business through collective bargaining-and steered clear of politics. The focus shifted in the 20th century. Union membership peaked in the 1950s at about 35 percent of all American workers. Since then, changes in the workforce and economy, along with labor organizations' often single-minded quest for political power, have decreased the relevance of unions for many workers. Today, only 7.6 percent of American private-sector workers are union members. The remaining power of unions today comes from their shift in focus to government employees, where union membership has quickly increased with the creation of more government jobs. The emergence of these public-sector unions has serious consequences for the scope, cost, and size of government. Unions represent 36.8 percent of government workers nationally and cover 40.7 percent of workers with collective bargaining agreements. In the private sector, union negotiators realize there are limits to how many concessions they can ask for. Government, however, lacks competition, and union negotiators have little incentive to bear in mind the government's bottom line. Unions have sought increasing political clout to further their agendas, which has done little to prevent decline in private-sector union membership and improve working conditions. To guarantee more members, unions want "reforms" such as the Employee Free Choice Act. Their strategy: If you can't win according to the rules, change them. This attitude of the end justifying the means is proof that today's version of organized labor has slipped dramatically from truly representing the interests of individuals. These types of policies fly in the face of what collective bargaining was intended to be. It ceases to be a voluntary way, as Gompers envisioned, for workers to come together to negotiate over pay and workplace concerns. Instead, bargaining is about how money and political power place corporate union interests over those of the individual. Worker freedom today and tomorrow must be about empowering the individual. The government should not allow or promote the principle of forced union "solidarity" over individual choice. Even though Labor Day was started by unions, it's time for us working men and women to reclaim the true meaning of the holiday. Isn't the American Dream fastened upon a system that rewards hard work and ambition? If so, the workers of America deserve nothing less than to live in a country free from union coercion, which serves only to hamper the will and strength of our nation's greatest asset: its people. For our states and country to continue to prosper and progress, our individual liberties must be preserved. (Rachel Culbertson and Scott Dilley are labor policy analysts with the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a public policy research organization in Olympia, Washington.)
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