“Do you work here?” a skinny blond bespectacled man asks me as I leave the office. His blue eyes stare at me intently through a thin black frame as his arm holds out a yellow leaflet. A few paces to the side, half a dozen large black women march around in a circle chanting loudly and hold up signs. “It’s about the cleaners in your building”, he continued, “did you know they only make $12 an hour?”.
“Oh?” I said, puzzled, glancing at the pale yellow flyer. “Well that’s not very much is it? Can you imagine trying to live on that??” he offered. “Yeah, crazy. I wonder how they do it. What does this have to do with me?” I said, feigning disinterest as I handed him his leaflet back. “The standard rate in the city is $20 per hour! They’re being ripped off!” he shouted. “Well they don’t seem so upset about it… how come THEY are not protesting?” I said pointing at the circle of women, none of whom were janitors in my building.
“Well they’re not part of our union! If they came out to protest with us, they could get fired! Your building is hiring non-union workers and underpaying them!” he bailed as I was walking away. “Ah, so this is really about growing your union base! Leave those poor janitors alone and stop wasting everybody’s time!” I sneered as I got on my bike. His shouting at me as I rode away informed me that I that I didn’t really get the last word, but I couldn’t quite catch what he was saying anyway.
It’s easy for union activists to paint themselves as virtuous crusaders, selflessly sticking up for the little guy. But the charade is a thin veil, they might fool some, and certainly themselves, but I can see the harm they are doing. If they got their way and forced the company that runs my building to pay more for their unionised workers, the current janitors would lose their jobs. Not so? They could just join the union?
Not so. They could join the union and get their raise, but it would be hard for them to keep their job. If they could demand $20 per hour for their labour they would have been working a different job already. Being forced to overpay for its staff, the building will expect higher standards; why should they pay $20 to someone who is providing $12 of value? Those workers will be replaced by more productive workers, or they will make do with fewer workers (fewer man-hours, these are part-time workers).
There is hardship in this world, and there will always be. Progress seems aggravatingly slow sometimes, but we cannot use force to fix it. By using force to come between two parties that have voluntarily come to an agreement, this union is interrupting that engine of prosperity that is the free market. There are no shortcuts to progress. Freedom is the best system for giving poor people a chance to work themselves up. You can shout all you like, but your minimum wage is still $0.
 |
| Alas, the summer sun starts to set. Winter is coming! |
