Have you noticed how often President Biden talks about creating “good union jobs?”
He has often referred to himself as the “best friend labor has ever had.” Sadly, that is probably true. It may have to do with his age. Back then, the Democratic Party had a romantic view of organized labor that rose out of the New Deal era. (FYI: Biden was born three years before FDR died.)
Biden’s loyalty to ORGANIZED labor represents a general disinterest in the tens of millions of non-union workers – approximately 92 percent of the American labor force. Biden’s devotion to the labor bosses represents generations of bias against the average American worker.
And it is not a personal view. Biden is the personification of the very pro-organized labor that permeates the Democratic Party. It is an alliance based on power and money.
Because of longstanding Democrat policies, virtually all government contracts must be awarded to union contractors. That means all those lucrative over-priced government projects must go to companies that represent a small number of enterprises.
That means that bidding on government work excludes the vast majority of competent and competitive companies. That adds billions of ADDITIONAL dollars in costs paid by the American taxpayer. It is not only not fair, but also needlessly expensive. But that is how pro-labor Democrat policies work – picking winner and losers.
It also means that big labor gains disproportionate power – not from membership, many of whom disagree with the labor bosses’ political positions – but from enormous political contributions to the Democratic Party at all levels.
Part of the Democrat pro-union philosophy is to corrosively force workers into unions they would rather not join. That is why they so adamantly oppose Right-to-Work laws. That is why they cling to union requirements for government jobs. It is why they oppose school choice – since students would seek better education in non-union private and parochial schools.
While employees have a right to join a union, the Biden administration is quietly eliminating their right to disassociate from a union under the National Labor Relations Act
Biden and Democrats use their power to increase support for union bosses … union jobs. When offering tax breaks for the purchase of electric vehicles (a bad policy on its own), Biden proposes a kick-back of approximately $12,000 – except for Teslas. Purchasers of Elon Musk’s cars would only get around $8,000. Why the difference? Because only unionized manufacturers get the higher benefit – and Musk does not run a union shop.
The largest and most powerful unions have had the most damaging effects on the institutions they represent. The auto workers’ unions were among the most successful in gaining high wage and compensation for workers. The result is that American auto manufacturers could no longer compete with foreign cars – unless, of course, they started producing cars and auto components overseas. Excessive union demands literally destroyed the American auto industry.
If you look at the exorbitant cost of public primary and secondary education – despite the poor results in urban segregated communities — you see the tragic influence of an unholy alliance between the school unions and the Democratic Party.
When Biden calls for “good union jobs,” he is suggesting that all those other jobs – your jobs — are not good – or at least not as good. The entire issue of unionism and government needs to be re-evaluated and put into a rational balance. The Democrats’ use of government to benefit unions that represent only eight percent of the workers at the expense of 92 percent is simply wrong.
And the first place to start is at the Department of Labor. Currently, it is viewed as the political fiefdom of the union bosses – who must have an ally as Secretary. It must serve the interests of the unions.
We should either change that reality or rename it the Department of ORGANIZED Labor.
So, there tis.