Look for the union label

Some time ago, I worked for an organization that straddled the libertarian/conservative divide. For unrelated reasons, we parted company about the time the group's new leadership decided to take their efforts in a specifically anti-union direction -- that is, they weren't just going to oppose labor unions over political matters on which union leaders and this organization's leaders disagreed; the were going after the existence of unions at all. Under the circumstances, I was happy to go my own way, since I'm not anti-union; in fact, I'm pro-union under the right circumstances.

Labor unions in their pure form are, after all, voluntary organizations created to increase the bargaining power of workers with their employers. Unions certainly have the potential to improve pay and conditions for their members by presenting a collective front in negotiations.

That's not to say that unions haven't been abusive; some have engaged in sabotage and outright violence to advance their goals -- most often directed at at workers who don't toe the union line. But while violence is a rather rare characteristic of modern American business, corporations in other countries have used violence, and in the U.S. they can be rather skilled at wielding lawyers as weapons. Most commonly, both corporations and unions have become adept at buying off politicians so that they can use the power of the state to pummel their opponents without dirtying their own hands.

But when they work as intended, through peaceful, non-coercive means, unions, like businesses, can be beneficial entities.

For several years I was a member of the National Writers Union, which is affiliated with the United Automobile Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America. NWU membership offered benefits in terms of access to media perils insurance and collective lobbying for improved compensation for writers as much content originally created for print outlets started making its way into new media. I left the NWU after it stopped offering media perils insurance, and because it was clear that the union's then-president was bat-shit crazy -- in a bad way.

That's relevant because members of the Writers Guild of America are currently on strike over an issue that concerned me when I was an NWU member -- compensation for content that's either repurposed for new media (such as the Web) or intentionally created for these new outlets. Compensation for such work hasn't been addressed in past contracts, and some television writers have been asked to create material for the Web without receiving extra pay in return. Writers and studios clearly have some legitimate disagreements to work out, and the WGA gives writers significant clout as they hammer out new compensation agreements for new media.

Note that nobody is a villain in this strike -- it's a matter of parties with real differences working out a mutually acceptable arrangement so that everybody can continue to share in the profits of a rather lucrative industry. The ritualistic performance art of pickets and press releases is all a means to an end that everybody can live with.

In the absence of headline-grabbing abuses and appeals to state power, unions like the WGA have legitimate role to play in a free society.