What can be done to make unions great again? I believe in organized labor, but I have little faith in its leadership.
I also don’t like the word “unions.” I prefer to use the phrase “organized labor.” Calling them “labor unions” takes me back to the days when the wrong people ran the unions. This mentality has never left the unions. Union leaders think the only way they can stay in power is to protect and support the bad acts of workers (who would typically be fired for not doing their jobs) or by making sure they maximize their pensions and income.
Union leaders take advantage of the workers they represent. They take too much money from them and spend too much money on themselves and political contributions. (So do corporations.) They also collect money from their membership and spend it on politicians – something that many members disagree with. Leadership should lower union dues and allow members to spend their money directly.
We shouldn’t permit unions to donate money to candidates or causes during elections – nor should we permit corporations to donate money to candidates or causes during elections. If companies want to provide a credit to employees to put some money into an election, that’s fine – but to take their money and spend it in such a way that some members don’t agree with amounts to taxation without representation.
Unions should also allow for people to be fired if there is just cause. One of the reasons we have charter schools is because teachers in the public schools have not been able to do their jobs. I don’t blame the teachers; they work hard for what they do. But there are some bad teachers who bring the whole group down. I think 5 percent of teachers ruin the reputation of the other 95 percent. This is the same with the police and government employees. Corporations can fire bad actors. That’s why they’re better than government at being efficient. Most government employees work hard and do a good job but could use an incentive to be more efficient.
Unions need responsible leadership. Unions shouldn’t continue to protect bad actors, and they need to stop bleeding communities dry through their pension systems. They need to find a way to make the pension system work. I still believe a 401(k) is the answer, even for the government, because when a person retires, they might get a couple million dollars to do what they want with – but the taxpayer doesn’t have to pay forever or go into debt to pay the pensions. So the longer they stay, the more they get when they retire.
It will take us 50 years to get this all straightened out, but we must start now.
