Labor Unions Now Necessary

“Union” is a word that elicits strong opinions and responses. Some reasoned, most reflex, poorly thought through, conditioned and more applicable to a different time in American history and culture. A PROPER union is nothing more than a group of employees along with their employer coming to the corporate bargaining table and arriving at a mutually beneficial contractual agreement. Reasonable people, negotiating fair and equitable contracts.

Disturbingly, our state legislators have, through “at-will” employment and “right to work” laws, effectively reduced Arkansan employee status to that of bond servants or slaves, with employee options fixed with either putting up with employer misbehavior, or losing their jobs. Fair, honorable, just and principled behavior by employers is strictly optional with employees being at the total mercy of the employers. Fear, intimidation and duplicitous politically correct pro-business rhetoric breed their predictable fruit, not good business. As a matter of public policy our legislators should work to see that neither is at the total mercy of the other. Respecting discipline and dismissal, “just cause” should be the standard, replacing “at-will”. Fact is - with the current politically correct corporate assault on employee personal liberties and compensations; a union affords employees their ONLY protection under the law.

Both employers and employees have the right to expect certain things from the other. Employers benefit from good employees and employees benefit from strong and healthy businesses. I am very pro-business – but as a working American I am also pro-employee, pro-family, pro-justice, pro-fairness, pro-honesty, pro-equity, etc.

In this day when honor and integrity are seemingly outmoded business concepts – doesn’t wisdom dictate that terms of employment should necessarily be covered by a written contract…?

It is only the unprincipled and untrustworthy who fear such contracts, and who have created the circumstances needing them.