As is evident by recent media coverage of events such as the fall of GM and the New York City transit workers' strike, the American union member often suffers a substantial amount of blame for the nation's economic woes. To varying degrees of directness, the media frequently portrays those individuals who provide the foundation of American industry as simultaneously pervading inefficiency while siphoning profits. When one characterizes the union worker as such, however, they unfairly marginalize an entire community of honest American men and women. Furthermore, though propagandists, perpetuators and propagators of this stereotype would hold otherwise, organized labor's desirable impacts on our nation's economy and society greatly outweigh any negative effects.

Admittedly, unions are no longer as essential to ameliorating the conditions of the American worker as they once were. From this, however, critics often improperly implicate the general ineffectuality of trade unions. The ignorance of detractors is that, presently, the unions function more as a maintenance force in our economy rather than a progressive one.

It is popularly advocated that organized labor increases wages without warrant, only affecting the general workforce insofar as to disseminate idleness and carelessness — a belief which is quite dissonant with the actual significance of unions to the greater American workforce. The earnest wages of today's American worker, for which unions have in the past tirelessly fought, now serve as a standard for all laborers.

As a factor in the American economy of labor, unions precipitate an increase in earnings for union members and non-union members alike, as well as raising employees' consciousness of fundamental issues such as health care and retirement security. Non-union workers are harder to exploit when in the company of union security. Those who defame the repercussions of unions in the marketplace often neglect the immense positive impacts of unions for the overall standard of employee wages and benefits.

Moreover, those opinions with an obsessive concern with the "free market" frequently adopt an ironic perspective on the position of labor unions. Why is it that while they censure the supposed negative impacts of unions in the market, the supporters of free enterprise excuse the malignant, self-serving actions of corporate America as exercising our traditionally liberal notion of freedom?

To this question, one would perhaps retort that the grievance with unions is not severity of economic effect so much as breach of capitalist ideology. To maintain, however, that the political leverage of labor unions is a unique exception in our otherwise perfectly realized system of laissez-faire capitalism is tantamount to fining a homeless man for jaywalking.

Given the comparable degree to which corporate America is subsidized by the United States government, the issue of organized labor illustrates how supporters of the "free market" are, more often than not, simply supporters of corporate America over the welfare of the general populace. Perhaps it is time we exhaust less time reproaching organized labor and more time scrutinizing the myopic motivations of many of our country's largest businesses.

Considering the impacts of labor unions aside from free-market concerns should make readily apparent that unions have other overwhelmingly positive social consequences. Promoting worker solidarity regardless of the frequently exaggerated bureaucracy of organized labor, labor unions in this country are currently perhaps the closest approximation to a politically significant grassroots movement. Unions provide an alternate voice to their members whose political understandings — given their undeniable tendency of being generally less educated — would likely be solely at the mercy of the corporate media.

Though modern labor unions may no longer achieve much of their ends via participation in the free market, through political influence, they nevertheless continue to ensure the acceptability of the condition of the American worker. It is no secret that the same policymakers across the United States who are opposed by unions are those who wish to endow corporate America with greater license to act as it will. Unions impart in their members a fundamental tenet of social responsibility in a representative democracy. Do not be deceived into allying yourself politically with the agenda of the entrenched elites at the expense of general welfare.

Ben Slatky ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in English and philosophy.