What are worker unions, and why is there opposition?
In: Economics
Workers unions, at the most broad level, function similarly to something like AAA. You pay a monthly or annual membership fee, and the organization uses that money to collectively negotiate better terms for you (which is how AAA members get discounts on stuff). For some people, the benefits from membership outweigh the costs, so they remain a member, and other people leave when they feel like it’s no longer worth it. From the other side (hotels, etc), you can freely choose to give AAA members discounts or choose not to.
However, in the US specifically, we’ve had decades of conflict between management and employees and as a result, the government has added a lot of regulations around unions that frankly don’t really make sense, and kinda break their original business model. These regulations tend to force an all-or-nothing union where it’s incredibly hard to join or start a union, but also incredibly difficult to leave or dissolve a union, and take away the incentive for the union to have a friendlier relationship with employers. As a result, employees only really form unions when they either already have extreme leverage and/or when their working conditions push them over the edge. Rather than a slow rampup of complaints/quitting/etc, companies get an immediate shock when all of their employees unionize (or if they’re already unionized, strike), and have to deal with a now adversarial relationship with their employees.
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