From: Greg Burch (gregburch@gregburch.net)
Date: Sat Nov 16 2002 - 18:04:16 MST
Alexander, I continue to find your statements about capitalism so wrong
that they are difficult to criticize -- in fact, I think you're so
off-base that most of the communication in these threads is
counterproductive. I really would like to know what your personal
experience base regarding real life economic systems is, but that's for
another day, I suppose ...
However, you do ask a very good question here:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alexander Sheppard
> Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2002 5:58 PM
>
> I have a question for people who regard themselves as
> anarcho-capitalists,
> or, as I think is really a better term for this set of ideas,
> proprietarians. What of unions?
As I became more and more libertarian in my social and political
thinking in the 80s and 90s, my ideas about unions evolved
significantly. That process continues now. However, I can say these
things about the current state of my thinking:
To the extent a union is seen as an organized seller of labor, I see no
reason why a union and a particular buyer of labor shouldn't be able to
make an exclusive contract, i.e. ABC Widget Co. ought to be able to make
a contract with The International Brotherhood of Widget Wrights to
exclusively hire members of the IBWW. Likewise, I see no reason why
widget wrights shouldn't be able to voluntarily band together in a union
or that the IBWW shouldn't have a membership rule requiring that its
members contribute some sum of money to the operation of the IBWW. The
problem comes when the IBWW seeks to use state power to *force* ABC
Widget Co. to only buy labor from IBWW members, or to force anyone who
wishes to work as a widget wright to join the IBWW or contribute funds
to the IBWW.
I can see *lots* of benefit from *voluntary* unions: Increasing the
bargaining power of their members, providing stability to social
services such as retirement funds, etc. for their members, defining and
bargaining for rules governing worker safety, providing unemployment
benefits to members and many more. Unfortunately, the history of unions
that have been able to get state power to enforce their membership and
bargaining rights has been one of corruption, unless significant
policing is employed to battle that corruption. This is a matter of
undeniable historical fact.
I can also see how voluntary unions *could* compete against non-union
labor. By being a supplier of highest-quality labor in their area of
specialization, they ought to be able to compete at the margin.
Obviously, this margin is thinner in industries employing unskilled
labor, but *any* margin could ultimately be exploited by a voluntary
union to edge out competition from non-union labor in a sufficient
number of cases to have a competitive advantage.
Greg Burch
Vice-President, Extropy Institute
http://www.gregburch.net
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