Editor's note.

• Author: Dorn, J.A.
• Position: Editorial

This special issue of the Cato Journal was made possible by a generous grant from the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation. The question posed in this issue--Are Unions Good for America? has both normative and positive aspects. Normatively, if one takes freedom as a fundamental principle, then compulsory unionism cannot be justified in a free society; it violates the rights of both workers and employers. Under current U.S. labor law, workers are often compelled to join unions and employers are compelled to negotiate "in good faith." Public sector unions are even more onerous than private sector unions; they limit consumer choices and impose heavy tax burdens.

By attenuating freedom of contract, unions also have economic consequences. They artificially increase wages in unionized industries, limit employment opportunities, depress wages in nonunion jobs, lower rates of return on investment in unionized firms, and slow the growth of productivity. Unions politicize labor markets and have used the threat of violence to protect their wage premiums. In addition to using their monopoly power to secure higher than market wages, unions spend huge sums of money to maintain their power and limit competition.

Unions oppose trade liberalization, favor higher minimum wages, seek legislation to make it easier to organize workers by using a card check system rather than secret ballot (the misnamed "Employee Free Choice Act"), and are major supporters of the Democratic Party.

By giving a privileged position to unions, U.S. labor law violates the rule of law and freedom of contract. The Norris-LaGuardia Act of 1932 and the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 swung the tide in favor of unions, outlawing "yellow-dog" contracts that would allow workers the freedom to choose not to join a union as a condition of employment, prohibiting federal judges from issuing injunctions to prevent strikes (and to protect private property rights), and forcing workers and employers to accept "exclusive representation" once a union is validated by majority vote.

Although unions as voluntary associations of workers would not violate workers' freedom, much of U.S. labor law takes that freedom away. One exception is right-to-work laws, which allow workers not to join a union as a condition of employment. Twenty-two states have enacted such laws and, in doing so, have expanded workers' choices, increased employment opportunities, and promoted industry.

Industrial unions in the United States...