Unions Have a Responsibility to More than Their Members

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Thursday September 17, 2015 · 11:48 AM PDT

2015/09/17 · 11:48

I believe in unions. They stand for the dignity of working men and women. They are all that stand between workers and exploitation. If you work for a living, you should be pro-union. But unions exist within society, as do their members. Unions cannot better the lives of their members while lowering the larger society. To better either, they must better both.

The NFL players’ union is right to demand due process for players accused of domestic violence. The union is wrong to use the dysfunction of the NFL to minimize consequences for members whose actions society finds abhorrent.

Police unions are right to demand due process for members accused of abuse of power. Those unions are wrong to denounce citizens that protest a whitewash in that process. They are shamefully wrong to blame tragedies on citizens or on public officials who have done only what the unions should have done: call certain of their members to account.

And any union, especially one of correction officers, that sponsors corruption and brutality is guilty of a most depraved lowering of society and of debasing its members.

Union leaders have a heritage to protect: hard, often bloody, and sometimes deadly fights for and by unions, fights over fundamental human rights. When a union defends the indefensible, it dishonors that heritage. When a union chooses a few undeserving members over society, it invites disgust and derision from the public. And when a union sacrifices humanity for power, it aids those who would eliminate unions – and they are out there, just waiting for their chance.

If you work for a living, you should be pro-union. If you are pro-union, you should demand that their support for members never diminish society. The fates of both are inextricably bound. And never, never, never allow a union to give aid and comfort to the anti-union movement.

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