Politico's Inadvertent Autopsy of Modern Labor Movement

Politico, a left-leaning news aggregate source, cannot ignore the continued decline of the Modern Labor Movement, hastened by market forces in the private sector, prodded along by concerted grassroots effort, both of which are fighting back against collective bargaining units, which have bought politicians and tied up entire cities with sclerotic regulations, plus unsustainable pensions and benefits at the expense of future generations.

Unions in Trouble

In December 2013, Stephanie Simon reported “Teachers unions face moment of truth”. Specifically documenting coordinated rallies in New York City and San Francisco, the piece pointed out that teachers union ranks are shrinking. Why? Teacher layoffs, certainly, have siphoned away support, body and money, but so have charter schools, a growing number of which resist unionization. One system of charters in the San Francisco, offer teachers the same pay and benefits and more freedom, removing any reason to organize. In addition to the rise (and rising success) of charter schools, Midwestern states enacted reforms which forced unions to recertify (Wisconsin) or reinstated individual employees right to not join a union in order to get a job (right-to-work in Michigan, following Indiana).

Teachers unions are getting a bad rap, as well, with one expose after another revealing union leaders which protect the most incompetent or immoral (i.e. convicted sex offender Mark Berndt, Miramonte Elementary in Los Angeles) at the expense of new, passionate, and growing educators because of last-hired, first-fired contractual agreements.

In the Los Angeles area, I have spoken with individual teachers very critical of their unions, as they face larger class sizes with few if any salary increases. School Board members, either openly or otherwise, acknowledge that teachers unions are commanding less respect. Despite such plain negatives,  Politico did report a slight membership increase in the American Federation of Teachers, but among retirees and part-time workers, and thus a measured decrease in union funds. The National Education Association has also cut staff, as well as overextending its line of credit.

Legal challenges are further chipping away at union power. Student-driven lawsuits are challenging teacher tenure laws, which have too often rewarded the worst at the expense of first-rate, yet new teachers because of arbitrary, politicized collective bargaining. Interestingly enough, the Politico report neglected to mention the grassroots nature of the tenure challenges, while also leaving out the recent lawsuits filed by California teachers, who resent forced membership and dues, all of which support causes and candidates without their individual support. Not only in the courtroom, but within union ranks new teachers are bumping against old-guard union leadership, which has prized power over pupils and the higher purpose of education.

Teachers unions are not only losing the PR war, in the courts of media opinion and the law, but even on the radio, where union/labor concentrated radio broadcasting is fading away, along with liberal-progressive radio talk shows in general. Politico contributor Mackenzie Weinger documented the increased silence:

The golden age of unions is long gone — and for the radio shows that focus on labor and workers rights, every day is a struggle just to stay on the airwaves.

Radio broadcasting is all about bringing in money, yet labor unions have driven away business, investment, profits, and through their own “success” created more unemployed, no longer joined to unions, who have no interest in labor radio.

Rick Smith, who runs one of few local labor radio talk shows, lamented:

“The only people who are going to invest in a program like mine are the people who see my message as something they believe in. Corporate America? Not so much.”

Invest, message, believe:  these terms conjure up the free market, the very system of supply and demand which labor unions disrupt to further their ends at the expense of corporations, communities, and most importantly, consumers. Since these labor talk shows take in so little money, they should follow Mr. Smith’s logic and deduce that there are very few people who believe in the conflict-theory, Marxist distortions inherent in union-dominated labor relations.

(Regarding Corporate America, by the way, this fact cannot go unreported: the greater beneficiaries of the Citizens United decision have not been the corporations, but rather the labor unions, who sponsor left-wing politicians, who inadvertently enough want to overthrow Citizens.)

Further into the Meinger piece, frequent guest Mark Critz to Pennsylvania-based “The Union Edge” (the only nationally syndicated labor-radio talk show left) commented:

With the anti-labor push at both the federal and state level, I feel very strongly that we need to stay on the airwaves talking about the difference unions have made in people’s lives.

Critz’ rhetoric betrays the division manifesting itself from labor unions. “Anti-labor” reforms like Wisconsin’s Act 10 or Michigan’s right-to-work legislation are indeed pro-labor, but anti-union. The fact that so few labor talk-shows remain, combined with UAW’s failure to organize Tennessee’s VW employees, further suggests that there are few stories where unions have impacted laborers’ lives for the better.

Once again, labor unions have proved adept at succeeding themselves into failure, so much so that left-leaning publications like Politico  cannot ignore but must comment, like surgeons conducting an autopsy over a warm cadaver.