Unions Today: Worker Protection, Political Power, or Both?

Labor unions can serve several roles at once. They bargain over wages and working conditions, represent employees in disputes, organize workers collectively, and sometimes participate actively in politics. Those different roles can produce very different reactions—even among people who support some union activities but question others.

At this meeting, we'll talk about what role unions should play in today's economy. We'll explore experiences with unions and workplaces, the balance of power between workers and employers, individual choice within collective bargaining, and what happens when an organization created to represent workers also becomes a political actor.

Questions:

1. What experiences—with unions, employers, or workplaces generally—have most shaped how you think about unions?

2. Where, if anywhere, do you think individual workers need collective power in dealing with employers?

3. What concerns do you have about giving unions substantial power? What concerns do you have about workers having too little bargaining power?

4. When workers in a union don't agree with decisions made in their name, how should their individual interests be weighed against collective decisions?

5. How do you feel about unions participating in politics? Is political activity different from bargaining over wages or working conditions?

6. What role, if any, do you think unions are especially well suited to play in today's economy?