The Worst of Unions

Chicago Teacher Union President Karen Lewis

I am a strong supporter of unions and unionization.  It is a sad day however when we see the likes of this making it hard for us to accept the idea.   Karen Lewis is the personification of what people hate about teachers and unions put together.  Her performance looks like she could have been addressing the Apollo theater, not an audience at a social justice conference.  She goes on to casually talk about her marijuana use, before realizing that there might be children in the audience.  Now given, I would understand a comedian slipping up and making that mistake.  But this is someone who is supposed to be educating the next generation of Americans.  It is a shame how terrible this person makes unions look.  It is truly a shame how awful this person makes teachers look.  She is as close as you get to a caricature.

FDR's lieutenant, Henry Wallace, spoke of this problem.  Though called an idealist in his time, his writings betray an individual valuing a pragmatic approach.  You won't find an ideology ripe with any idealism about labor, corporations and government.  I think Wallace is a better source for the vibe of the New Deal since he was involved in much of the most extensive projects in it.  Here I'd rather focus on how this particular president of the teachers union doesn't really represent what those behind FDR and Wallace really meant.

Corporations in their policies are not alone in their neglect of the general welfare. Organized labor and organized agriculture, insofar as they have the power, act in a somewhat similar way. Labor tries to get higher wages per hour and to make higher wages more certain by cutting the hours of work per week. In like manner farmers want higher prices per bushel, backed up if need be by production control. Obviously, if the price, wage and production policies of all three groups are completely successful the result will be to give everyone more and more money and less and less goods.

This is quite a balanced view, quite different I think than the naive idealism so many are lead to believe  What we see here is an example of what happens when we allow one of the three major forces to run amok.  Of course we must always stay wary of the other two when trying to reign in one.

I implore you to look at what organized labor has brought us, before we choose to abolish it over the actions of ignorant and stupid people.

• Minimum wage
• 40-hour work week
• Child labor laws
• Unemployment insurance
• Passage of the Social Security Act
• Collective bargaining rights
• Pensions