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THE SMITH CENTER | for Private Enterprise Studies |
by
Charles W. Baird
Emeritus Professor of Economics and Former Director of the Smith Center
California State University, East Bay
The Public Service Research Foundation recently commissioned a Zogby
poll on national attitudes toward unions. The poll was released on March
4, 2004, and it contains very encouraging news. But first, some context.
The table below shows market shares of union workers in the private sector
and in the government sector as well as government union membership as a
share of total union membership for 2002 and 2003. Charts I and II show
the same data over the twenty-one year period, 1983-2003.
Year |
Government Sector Union Market Share
|
Private Sector |
Govt. Union Members as Percent of Total Union Members |
2002 |
37.8% |
8.6% |
45.6% |
2003 |
37.2% |
8.2% |
46.4% |
The private sector union market share has steadily declined, while the government
sector market share has fluctuated between 35 and 40 percent. Over the same
interval, government sector unionism has become an ever increasing part
of the American union movement. Soon, more than half of all union members
will be government employees although government employment is only 16.1
percent of total employment. As Leo Troy, an economics professor at Rutgers
University, pointed out several years ago, unionism in America is steadily
becoming little more than organizations of government employees whose principal
interest is picking the pockets of private sector workers whether they are
unionized or not.
Chart I
Chart II
In light of the changing nature of American unionism, it is interesting to see what the general public thinks of it as indicated by the Zogby poll. John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, can find some comfort in the poll. A majority of the public (54%) clings to the conventional, but erroneous, belief that unions have been and continue to be helpful to workers who otherwise wouldn't have effective bargaining power. Moreover, in response to the question, " In general, do you approve or disapprove of labor unions?" 63 percent expressed approval and 31 percent expressed disapproval. It would be interesting to know if this general approval is different with respect to the private and the government sectors. My guess is that as government employee unions become a larger share of total unionism, the unions' approval ratings will decline.
There is much in the poll about which Mr. Sweeney will be very displeased. For example, 73 percent of the general public and 54 percent of union members agree that "Individual workers should be free to decide for themselves whether or not to join or support a union, and nobody should be required to join or support a union as a condition of employment." So much for the malevolent idea of "union security" embodied in the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The poll suggests that the national right-to-work bill now in the Congress has overwhelming public support.
Furthermore, 51 percent of the general public, but only 28 percent of union members, agree that "Even where a union represents the majority of the workers, individual workers should be free to make their own deal with the employer." Exclusive representation (monopoly bargaining) is at the heart of the NLRA. Without exclusive representation, union security becomes moot. If unions represented only their voluntary members, no workers could receive union-generated benefits for free, and the whole case for forced payment of union dues would collapse. The fact that a majority of the general public is opposed to exclusive representation is very good news indeed. Perhaps now is the time for classical liberals interested in compulsory unionism to press this attack.
There is more good news in the poll. Sixty-three percent of the general public and 61 percent of union members believe that "Union members should not be required to contribute through their union dues to political or ideological groups with which they disagree." Because of a series of U. S. Supreme Court decisions, workers who are not union members but who, because of union security, are forced dues payers, may already opt out of paying the portion of regular union dues that is used for political and ideological purposes. The Zogby poll indicates substantial support for extending this right to union members. Of course, without exclusive representation this issue, too, is moot.
Should unions have to give detailed reports to their members and to the general public about how they spend their money? The Securities and Exchange Commission requires corporations to submit such reports, and the Department of Labor has recently imposed some regulations of this sort on unions. Mr. Sweeney has vigorously protested any such requirements. Yet 71 percent of the general public and 71 percent of union members in the poll agreed that "Government ought to do more to protect union members from corrupt union officials. Unions should be required to give detailed reporting of union finances to discourage abuse."
I would like to think that these poll results are due to the many columns
I have written in this magazine decrying compulsory unionism; but it is
much more likely that they are simply a reflection of Americans' basic sense
of justice. Too bad American politicians are so eager to sacrifice justice
on the altar of special interest politics.