Labor Day 2018 hits during history's finest era for workers. Unemployment has dropped to a 40-year low. Hispanic unemployment has reached a historic low, and employment rates are setting records for high school dropouts, women, minorities and nearly every other demographic. Demand for workers has grown to the point where employers are giving former convicts unprecedented opportunities to work.
American companies are bringing jobs back to the U.S., as wages rise in China and other countries that compete for manufacturing jobs. American wages are rising. The labor participation rate holds steady against an aging population of retirees.
Nearly every economic data point shows improving conditions for American workers.
Labor Day 2018 also follows the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to free government employees from compulsory union dues, with its 5-4 decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
"The idea of public-sector unionization and agency fees would astound those who framed and ratified the Bill of Rights," the Supreme Court ruling states.
The case began when plaintiff Mark Janus refused to join his employer's labor union, which funds and otherwise advocates for causes he opposes — including collective bargaining. Despite his disassociation from the union, the organization took a portion of his earnings by force.
The case overturned Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, which allowed government unions to take employee wages by force since 1977. Courts, city governments, state legislatures, Congress and the president should continue expanding rights for workers in the public and private sector.
Pro-labor members of Congress can start by supporting the employee-rights movement, backed by proposed legislation known as the Employee Rights Act.
The latest incarnation of the Employee Rights Act, House Resolution 2723, would prohibit labor unions from interfering with employees trying to organize unions or seek other avenues of collective bargaining. In other words, employees could create competing options when unions no longer serve their best interests.
The law would require unions to seek reauthorization by a vote of workers after a turnover in the workforce exceeding 50 percent of the bargaining unit. Among other employee protections, the bill ensures union and nonunion employees the right to vote by secret ballot on whether to ratify a bargaining agreement or to strike. It would prevent unions from using dues "for any purpose not directly related to collective bargaining."
The bill would prohibit the use of threat of force or violence to obtain the right to represent employees.
The United States has a labor shortage, which makes this a worker's market. Nearly anyone able and willing to work can find a good job, usually with pay exceeding minimum wage laws. This has not always been the case and won't always be the case.
Market conditions constantly change, meaning the allure of union membership ebbs and flows. When labor is in surplus, employers have greater control of wages and working conditions. When labor is tight, employees can make greater demands on employers.
Through changing market conditions, employees should have the right to go it alone or join a union. They should enjoy the right to control their earnings, by deciding whether to spend a portion on dues. They should have the right to freely associate or disassociate with unions tied to public and private employers. In a free country, which celebrates labor each September, workers should have the right to choose.
REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE
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