At the behest of big corporations, the federal government has all but taken away the freedom of workers to organize in order to get their fair share. When workers lack the freedom to organize, wages stagnate, the middle class shrinks and inequality soars. Contrary to Republican dogma, it is workers and not businesses who are over-regulated. American workers are crying out, not only for a social safety net, not only for good jobs, but for control over their future.
The federal government severely restricts the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain contracts. For instance:
The government prohibits “independent contractors” and many “managers” from organizing themselves, leading to widespread efforts by businesses to misclassify employees in order to deny them the right to organize.
The government bans boycotts of companies that are not directly engaged in a labor dispute, enabling businesses to avoid the righteous complaints of workers by contracting out work to other businesses that treat workers unfairly.
The government requires unions to provide services to workers who do not pay anything for those services, making it difficult for unions to provide services for their paying members.
The list goes on and on. In short, workers are being regulated to death.
Where are the cries of small-government conservatives that the government is violating worker freedoms? It is increasingly clear that what many conservatives really want is not “free markets,” but crony capitalism.
Federal labor law nominally guarantees the right to organize and collectively bargain, and repealing those worker protections, as some conservatives have suggested, would be a step backwards. Instead, it is time to make the guarantees of the right to organize and collectively bargain meaningful.
It is time to return to the vision of worker independence and self-sufficiency that started the American Labor Movement. How can the federal government help? It’s unlikely to raise the minimum wage, provide universal healthcare or do much else for working families. At the very least, the government should get out of the way of workers who want to stand together for a better life.
By Ben Field, Executive Officer, South Bay Labor Council
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