Liberating Labor: A Christian Economist's Case for Voluntary Unionism
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Do labor unions offer the best protection for the worker? Published by the Acton Institute, Liberating Labor questions the assumption that Christian social teaching unequivocally endorses all forms of trade unionism. If we consider the church's defense of freedom of association, for example, compulsory union membership is clearly at odds with Christian teaching. This monograph offers the first rigorous-yet accessible-economic analysis of labor unions and the labor market that takes into account the Christian understanding of labor.
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Liberating Labor - Charles Baird
Liberating Labor
Charles W. Baird
Christian Social Thought Series
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2012 by Acton Institute
An imprint of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty
Edition License Notes
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CONTENTS
Foreword
I. Introduction
II. Freedom of Association
III. Voluntary Exchange
IV. The Labor Market Process
V. Three Confusions About Labor Markets
VI. Coercive Aspects of the NLRA
VII. Papal Teaching on Unionism
VIII. A Model of Voluntary Unionism
Notes
References
About the Author
FOREWORD
This second essay of the 2002 Christian Social Thought Series is dedicated to the subject matter of labor unions. Following the lead of this year’s first essay on justice, this second essay is fundamentally concerned with the relationship between, on the one hand, the external relations between persons and, on the other hand, the common good. Justice is instantiated whenever the external relations between persons are in accordance with the common good. In turn, the principle of subsidiarity assists us in identifying the legitimate bearer or bearers of the task of realizing the common good in the external relations between persons. In the language of reformed Protestantism, the spirit of the principle of subsidiarity is contained in the concept of sphere sovereignty.
This essay focuses on Catholic social teaching, since it provides the only systematic treatment of labor unions within Christian social thought. In the case of labor unions, Catholic social teaching advocates the role of labor unions in bringing about the common good in the relations between workers and employers insofar as freedom of association is at work in these relations. This essay shows that freedom of association is a principle that may be distilled from papal teaching on the subject of labor unions and, as such, the principle of freedom of association is the basis for the legitimacy of labor unions defended in the encyclicals.
The fundamental role of the Christian Social Thought Series is not, however, merely to provide an exegesis of the relevant Christian teaching on the subject matter at hand. Rather, the Christian Social Thought Series is dedicated to the advancement of economic analysis within the framework of Christian teaching. This is, then, a scholarly publication that aims at academically rigorous analysis in the pursuit of truth. Nonetheless, the distinguishing character of this publication is that it provides sophisticated economic analyses written for non-specialists in economics. Above all, we are not concerned with the theory of economic science but with the intelligible application of economics to everyday issues that confront us all. The author of this essay, Professor Charles W. Baird, is an economist who has earned inter-national recognition for his specialization in the analysis of labor unions. In this essay, he advances the first interdis-ciplinary investigation of economics and theology that offers an examination of the labor market that takes into account the Christian understanding of labor.
The labor market is an arena in which we all participate either as workers or employers, in public and private institutions, and the fundamental concerns of efficient allocation of resources, compensation, and work satisfaction do not escape even those devoted to religious vocations. Inherent to the labor market broadly construed in this way, unemployment and job security are crucial concerns to us all, especially in the business cycle downturns that we must learn to expect even in the most successful economic systems. As the responsibility for the stewardship of one’s labor resources falls squarely upon each Christian, we are each called to become better informed of the economics of the labor market. This essay provides a clear and accessible presentation of the economics of the labor market. Within this framework, this essay steers the economic analysis in the direction of the special subject matter of labor unions, and it presents it in the context of Christian social thought.
We hope that the readers of this essay include not only clergy, pastors, and other religious leaders but parishioners of every walk of life and vocation—mothers, fathers, students, entrepreneurs, skilled workers, independent contractors—as well as scholars not only of economics, theology, or philosophy who want to engage in interdisciplinary studies but also academics of every discipline who are committed to the discovery of truth and are curious of investigations that bring together faith and reason.
Gloria L. Zúñiga, Ph.D.
Executive Editor
Christian Social Thought Series
Grand Rapids, Michigan
November 2002
* * * * *
I
Introduction
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2 Corinthians 3:17
There can be no doubt that within Christian Social Thought, Catholic social teaching (CST) has provided the only systematic reflection upon trade unionism.¹ Beginning with Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum (1891), Catholic social teaching has unequivocally endorsed some form of trade unionism. So do I. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the details of that endorsement. What sort of unionism is consistent with papal encyclicals from Rerum Novarum to Centesimus Annus (1991)? Too often, Catholics, lay and ordained, have simply assumed that Catholic social teaching supports all trade unions set up under the auspices of democratic governments.
In this essay, I try to make a case that falsifies that assumption. In my judgment, Catholic social teaching supports voluntary, and condemns compulsory, unionism. In the United States, the statute that defines the rules of unionism is the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which was originally enacted in 1935 and was amended in 1947 and again in 1959. My hypothesis is that NLRA-style unionism is inconsistent with Catholic social teaching.
Given the variety of styles of union organizations that have emerged around the world since the nineteenth century, I will focus my examination on the NLRA-style unionism that exists in the United States. The subject of my examination is a case of systematic compulsory unionism that gives rise to the phenomenon of labor monopolies. However, I shall also show that this kind of unionism is not present in all trade union systems across the world.
In what follows, I shall first examine the principle of freedom of association. This is a principal argument in the encyclicals for the legitimacy of labor unions. Second, I introduce and explain the economist’s principle of voluntary exchange together with some of its logical implications and indicate why I think this principle is consistent with CST. Third, I outline how labor markets actually work and explain why not all unemployment is undesirable. Fourth, I critically examine three, widespread misunderstandings of the labor market process that have led to unquestioning endorsement of compulsory trade unions—labor’s inherent bargaining power disadvantage