It creates and protects a monopoly.
Federal and state laws govern wages, overtime, worker safety, on-the-job injuries, discrimination, and much more. One element of the labor movement's work has been advocacy and political action, similar to the ACLU, the NRA, and Planned Parenthood. Organized labor has been successful in shaping employment norms and laws.
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John Coster shares his personal experience with unions. Coster started out as a 19-year-old licensed electrician with a truck, scrambling for work. Soon he was hiring and managing electricians, both union and non-union, on bigger and bigger jobs. Over his 40-year career, he oversaw the design and construction projects for large energy users including Toyota, Microsoft, TELUS, and CenturyLink.
Guest Post by John Coster
I went to vocational high school in the early 1970s in Massachusetts and trained to be a licensed electrician. My neighbor was a union (IBEW) electrician and it provided a comfortable living for his family on a single income. I thought that was a sweet deal and would be satisfied with that. I finally passed all the tests and got my license, but the IBEW would not have me. It was a private club that tried to control skilled labor supply by limiting membership. But the trade schools kept pumping us out, flooding the market with skilled, ambitious young workers who were willing to work for two thirds the union rate. Non-union contractors could underbid union contractors – which shrunk the union pie of work. It seemed obvious to me that getting to that middle-class life on non-union wages was going to be longer haul.
I moved to California and found that the union would not have me there either. It wasn’t personal; I simply was not from the “tribe.” So, I got my contractor’s license and with funding from a stealth owner, started small jobs that grew to larger jobs. The trouble was that the union had a lock on skilled labor which limited growth, so I enticed a bunch of my non-union electrician buddies from the east coast with union wages. They eagerly came.
These larger projects caught the eye of the local IBEW business agent who began picketing our jobs, and personally threatened my employees and me with violence. It reached a peak where several of my jobs were sabotaged and our job trailers set fire. Guys with baseball bats greeted my truck at the non-union gate. I was out of my depth. Remember, I was just a young guy trying to make a living with my trade, and all I wanted was a job. I did not see unions as my friend.
A court-order put an end to the picketing, and the project owners added measures of security. More non-union contractors started up and, like the Massachusetts story, the union share of the work shrank. My company grew beyond my managerial abilities, and the “stealth owner” hired an experienced manager who could grow the business (a good thing) and we parted ways. That was over 40 years ago.
Imagine what might have happened if the unions had gotten us to organize instead of lock us out? I think that’s what’s happening now. The IBEW is now hungry for willing entrants and skilled talent. Ironically, the buyers of that company I started 40 years ago proudly announced they have recently signed an agreement with the IBEW. I should call and congratulate them.
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3 comments:
This seems analogous to the immigrant issue. If employers didn't hire migrants, and faced stiff penalties if they did, there would be less incentive but the market would suffer. In this case builders, whose motives are in question, hire non-union labor who will provide equal quality for less, one hopes. Building inspectors, code enforcement, and insurance would seem to be in play also.
The concerning part of the story is the intimidation by the union. This is unacceptable and self-defeating, and frankly dumb. Unions should welcome all qualified applicants and encourage builders to be part of the system.
It sounds like unions vary quite a bit, as do all organizations. Before figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up, I was in the ILWU, the Carpenters Union and the Teamsters. I was grateful for the opportunities they gave me. I know they all had their history, but there was no violence in my experience – no fires or baseball bats.
Unions are the only real check and balance workers have against arbitrary abuses by management. Ultimately, it’s the members that determine the character of the union. Some are obviously better than others.
Unions are impossible to paint with a broad brush. They are responsible for so many workplace improvements (hours; vacations; wages) but also responsible for blocking marketplace innovations (shipping containers, most notably). The rapid and complete cleanup of the World Trade Center showed what is possible when union bosses say, "Do it." But corruption from petty to grand is a reality, too. A very mixed bag. But, at least, unions fight the most for jobs and, as a business executive (now retired), I never fought for jobs; we had very different incentives. Failure to fight for so many lost jobs over the past 40 years has led us to today's polarization. Yes, taxis deserved to be disrupted by Uber; yes, hotels should be eternally punished for charging so much to make a phone call, by Airbnb. But still, people without superior intellectual skills still need meaningful work that supports a good living. Unions have done that; other kinds of organizations need to do that as well.
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