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Unions: the Right of Labor to OrganizeOn occasion, discussions on the value of labor unions bear some similarity to debates about the deterrent nature of the death penalty. For, as a visceral issue, the pros and cons of adverse or beneficial effects of unions will likely bog down into a stalemate Support for trade unions peaked in the United States at mid-twentieth century. But the tides of support for unions have been ebbing. After union ascendancy, eventually a counter offensive was set into motion to displace the empowerment of organized labor which had been reached by the 1950s. Attempts at "union-busting" became more commonplace. Anti-union sentiments began to mount even at the popular level. President Reagan's firing and replacement of the PATCO air controllers in 1981 was a symbolic cause celebre for growing public disenchantment with organized labor. Partial blame for the decline of the union rosters can be located at the doorsteps of the unions. A number of factors on the part of unions had contributed to the unraveling of public support, e.g. the appearance of featherbedding or goldbricking or tactics insensitive to public interests. In 1984, Richard B. Freeman and James L. Medoff published What Do Unions Do? Their study reviewed both general negative and positive views of labor unions. Their analysis of adverse and beneficial effects of unionization drew several carefully nuanced conclusions and, at the same time, spelled out concomitant implications of those positions. What Do Unions Do? recommended substantial revision of current labor laws, particularly in regard to limiting the power of management opposition to influence representational elections. Freeman and Medoff's research hinged on an operating assumption, namely, that the decline of unions is bad for society as a whole. The authors believed that the density of union membership had fallen below a desirable optimal degree. Although their study concluded that 100% unionization of the workforce would be an economic disvalue, an optimal level of unions would delimit the power of management over employees. Conversely, competition in the market derived from a balanced interplay between union and nonunion firms would delimit the monopoly power of unions. While critically noting some of the negative features of unions, the work of these two economists upheld the place of unions as the key worker institution in a capitalist system. Their call for the nation to reassess its policies on unionism expressed a hope that a new public appreciation of unionization would be a move towards improving the "well-being of the free market system" as well as the status of all Americans. In discussing the distribution of income and power within society, Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith argues that "(t)he distribution of income in the modern economy derives ultimately from the distribution of power ." In this context, Galbraith outlines a rationale for the capacity of trade union membership to offset that "closed circle" of power and income. Thus, he writes in The Good Society:The Humane Agenda (1996): In the market economy the natural focus of power is the employer, most often the business firm. The right of workers to join together and assert countervailing authority must be central and accepted. As those who organize to invest enjoy the protection that the state accords the corporate structure, so those who organize to enhance income or improve working positions should have a broadly equivalent protection for their organization. Galbraith judges that the formation of unions becomes part of the response of the "good society" to the disequilibrium of power and wealth in the economy by "the empowerment and public protection of the powerless." As briefly mentioned above, trade union membership has declined sharply in recent decades. Whereas union membership encompassed 40% of the workforce in 1954, that statistic had dropped to 11% in 1995. Several major causes for reduction in union membership are worth noting. In the first place, structural changes in the economy have brought about a shift from an industrial-manufacturing economy to a service-technological economy. This transition away from an industrial economy has introduced significant transformations in labor relations. Secondly, the dominant growth of globalization poses a distinct threat to worker security. Economic Justice for All, the 1986 pastoral letter of the Catholic bishops of the United States, lists several pressures which currently undermine American employment. Lower labor costs in a global economy may be traced to "(t)he restrictions on the right to organize in many countries abroad." (EJ n. 108) John Kenneth Galbraith sums up the decline by acknowledging the concomitant "decline in mass-production, mass-employment industry" plus "the aged lethargy of the trade union movement itself." Galbraith, however, maintains that "(t)he good society seeks, wherever possible, to reverse this decline in trade union power, for worker organization remains a major civilizing force in modern economic life." The efforts to revitalize the role of unions undoubtedly will be an uphill battle. Church social teaching on the right to form worker associations has not flagged in its consistent advocacy, nationally and internationally, for the need of "a strong democratic labor movement." Since the initial moral critique of the injustices brought on by the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, defending the right to form worker associations has been a foundational principle in Church social teaching. Economic Justice for All declares that "(t)he Church fully supports the right of workers to form unions or other associations to secure their rights to fair wages and working conditions." Rooted in the Church's moral tradition on the right to join trade unions, the pastoral letter stipulates the following norm: "No one may deny the right to organize without attacking human dignity itself." (EJ n.104 ) Moreover, wherever a ruthless campaign has rejected the right to organize, the denial of the right to associate perpetrates "an intolerable attack on social solidarity." (EJ n.105) In commemorating the centennial of Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Labor, 1891), Pope John Paul II resoundingly reaffirmed the original stance taken by Pope Leo XIII on the natural human right to form private associations. That right specifically included "professional associations of employers and workers." The centenary social encyclical, Centesimus Annus (On the Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum, 1991) backs the right of association as the very grounds for the Church's "defense and approval of the establishment of what are commonly called trade unions." (CA n. 7) Ten years prior to Centesimus Annus, Laborem Exercens (On Human Work, 1981) marked the 90th anniversary of Rerum Novarum. Its format was an extended theological reflection on the meaning of work. Section 20 of the encyclical is entitled the "Importance of Unions." Pope John Paul II comments that "modern unions grew up from the struggle of ---workers in general but especially the industrial workers ---to protect their just rights vis-à-vis the entrepreneurs and the owners of the means of production." In the light of history, the Holy Father describes unions as "an indispensable element of social life." (LE n. 20) At the Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution in the Modern World, 1965) enumerated "the right of freely founding labor unions" as a basic right of workers rooted in human dignity .The conciliar constitution also includes a right "of taking part freely in the activity of these unions without a risk of reprisal." (GS n. 68) In their Sharing Catholic Social Teaching (1998) the National Conference of Catholic Bishops presents the following summary of "The Dignity and Rights of Workers": The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than making a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God's creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected ---the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and join unions, to private property , and to economic initiative. The document acknowledges that the Church's "long tradition of supporting workers' rights to form and join unions and workers' associations of their choosing" is an integral concept in Catholic social teaching. Church social teaching embraces a constituent principle of economic justice ---"the economy exists to serve people, not the other way around.” This formula is shorthand for a principal theme of the pastoral letter on the economy: "Every economic decision and institution must be judged in the light of whether it protects or undermines the dignity of the human persons”. In short, the moral assessment of an economic system can be guided by a single norm: "We judge any economic system by what it does for and to people and by how it permits all to participate in it." [A Pastoral Message - a preface to Economic Justice for All (PM n. 12).]
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