Union-Backed 'Sectoral Bargaining' Is Guild Socialism

Guild socialism is the rule of, by, and for mediocrity. -- Ayn Rand

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In his excellent piece, "For U.S. Union Bosses, Even the 'Pro-Act' Doesn't Go Far Enough," Mark Mix notes that labor unions have a plan to force workers in entire swaths of American industry to pay for and deal with union bosses whether they want to or not. (Recall that the PRO Act is a federal version of California's AB-5 ban on contract work.)

This scheme would benefit from the fact that part of the PRO Act calls for an elimination of "right to work" laws (See also P.S.):

... is EXACTLY what everyone will be if the unions get their way. (Image by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona, via Unsplash, license.)

"When a worker organization has a membership of 5000 workers in a sector or 10 percent of the workers in a sector (whichever number is lower), the Secretary of Labor will -- upon request of the worker organization -- establish a sectoral bargaining panel for the sector ... Sectoral bargaining agreements will become binding on all firms and all workers in the sector ... "

You heard that right. Under their plan, the federal government will hand over control of entire industries to union bosses with support from just a tiny fraction of the workers who would be impacted. It's not just an academic theory: Self-described "union guy" Joe Biden promised to explore "sectoral bargaining" in his 2020 campaign platform.

Sectoral bargaining proponents want to increase the scope of union monopolies to entire industries and forcibly conscript millions of workers into union ranks and dues payment -- which cannot happen if workers have the legal right to say no. [bold added]

If you're a student of Ayn Rand, the above passage might remind you of the following:

Guild socialism is a system that abolishes the exercise of individual ability by chaining men into groups according to their line of work, and delivering the work into the group's power, as its exclusive domain, with the group dictating the rules, standards, and practices of how the work is to be done and who shall or shall not do it.

Guild socialism is the concrete-bound, routine-bound mentality of a savage, elevated into a social theory. Just as a tribe of savages seizes a piece of jungle territory and claims it as a monopoly by reason of the fact of being there -- so guild socialism grants a monopoly, not on a jungle forest or waterhole, but on a factory or a university -- not by reason of a man's ability, achievement, or even "public service," but by reason of the fact that he is there.

The rest of Rand's comments on this are also worth reading, especially her thoughts on how a society like ours can reach the point that this is even being discussed without being laughed out of existence.

Americans aren't so naive and trusting in government that they'll meekly accept (1) what amounts to a brand new tax just to keep their jobs, (2) a second boss they've never even met (much less run a background check on), and (3) zero say in the kinds of opportunities they might have in their careers.

Are they?

-- CAV

P.S. To be clear, the solution to the Wagner Act is outright repeal, not passage of "right to work" laws, which deprive companies that actually want to deal with unions of the right to do so. That said, these laws at least give workers who have no desire to join a union the ability to move to a state with such laws.