Why Unions Matter
August 31, 2007, 1:27 pm
Posted by Eduardo Peñalver
Kevin Drum
makes a nice, and frequently overlooked, point about why unions matter
for reducing inequality. The Church has gotten this for over a century:
If you’re interested in
government policies that actively favor the working and middle classes,
you need to have some kind of substantial political interest group
fighting on their side. That’s Politics 101, and right now unions are
pretty much all we’ve got. They aren’t perfect, and they frequently act
only in their own narrow self-interest, but without them there’s no
organized opposition to the agenda of corporations and the rich. Warts
and all, they’re worth supporting until something better comes along.
I’d say that AARP has considerable clout, but not enough to get the needed health care revisions, Perhaps the unions and AARP should join forces, at least concerning heath care.
As I see it, we the weak have only two sorts of power: voting and lobbying. Until campaign contributions and lobbying (direct and indirect) are reformed, we don’t stand a chance.
I’ll try to keep Mr. Drum’s point in mind the next time there’s a transit strike in New York City at Christmas time.
But I’ll also consider the possibility that a group may pursue its narrow self-interest, reduce inequality in the process and yet produce an even more unjust society for all and for the poor in particular.
In fact I don’t think unions reduce unequal rewards so much as shift their incidence. Highly organized groups benefit, at the expense, far more often, of the unorganized needy rather than the rich. The Church has something to say about these problems as well.