Trade Unions

[AshleyLawsonEire]

Are Trade Unions a good thing ? Whats Ron Pauls thought on Trade Unions ?

[Epic]

voluntary = good
coercive = bad

http://mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/rae3_1_7.pdf

[krazy kaju]

Ron Paul has never expressed any thoughts about trade unions, to the best of my knowledge. His circle of associates at the Mises Institute, however, have some very specific thoughts about trade unions.

It is generally acknowledged by Misesians that unions, as they are construed today, are a negative force on the economy. Governments grant these unions monopolies, and they allow these labor-monopolies to violate the rights of workers and employers alike. This makes it possible for these unions to force employers to raise wages, which makes it impossible for the employers to hire as many people as they'd like.

Consider this situation: You are a manager who has $100 an hour to spend on workers. You currently hire 20 people at an hourly wage of $5 (20*5=100). The workers, however, decide to unionize, and they demand a wage of $7 an hour plus $3 an hour in health and pension benefits. With only $100 an hour to spend on workers, how many workers can you employ at a functional wage of $10? Half as many as before, in other words, you can only employ 10 workers.

That's how unions (and minimum wages) harm workers and employers. Economic studies have shown that unions have harmed the US economy by $50 trillion (source (http://www.lpsf.org/issues/126-honoring-laborers.html)). That is because through all the years that unions have been granted government monopolies over labor, they have been able to slow economic growth and progress. This has eventually accumulated through compound interest to the huge number of $50 trillion.

That said, purely voluntary and free market unions are good. Such unions do not have the power to restrict employment and tax the economy, instead, they train workers and provide benefits for workers that the employer might not provide.

[Pennsylvania]

Ron Paul has never expressed any thoughts about trade unions, to the best of my knowledge.

Yeah he hasn't talked about them from a pro/con standpoint but I think he did once say something like "I would never take away the right of workers to organize."

[Elwar]

I support the right of workers to organize into a union.

I support the right of the business owner to fire their workers.

[AshleyLawsonEire]

Thanks guys you've cleared a few things up for me