Comment on Labor Unions Are Industrial Policy

phoneymouse@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• unfreeradical@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Automatically?

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  • phoneymouse@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Sure, government should step in and require union formation. Either the employees join an existing union or are able to form their own, without any obstruction from the company. There is no case where the employees are better off without a union, and the existence of non-unionized employees hurts the power of unions.

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    • unfreeradical@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Do you know of any historic precedent for the state being so enthusiastic about worker organization?

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      • phoneymouse@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I don’t see how that question is relevant. In a democracy, the state should theoretically be incentivized to do what is best for its constituents, since its constituents are mostly workers, I would think mandatory unionization would be a no brainer. In practice, power in our democracies largely mirrors the power structure of our economy with capitalists capable of using their capital to control the government in the same way they use it to control workers by denying them the full benefit of what they produce. It’s how you get workers on food stamps while the CEO is worth billions.

        What matters is workers being able to benefit from the fruits of their labor, rather than shareholders exclusively. Today, you can spend 40 years of your life building a company as an employee and be thrown to the curb without a cent of equity. Workers, despite dedicating their lives to the company, have no rights or recourse. Unions help change that and give workers power. The state should represent the best interests of the public and serve as a counter-balance to protect the public interest from the power and narrow-mindedness of private interest.

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