Wobbly Market
I’ve heard a lot of hostility toward labor unions from libertarians. Unions are frequently said to interfere in the market and are treated as coercive cartels, regardless of what their actual function is. Fortunately there are people rebuilding bridges between radical libertarianism and the labor movement, which Charles Johnson introduces nicely in a recent post.
Free association is critical to the function of a free market. If the market truly were free, there would be no reason why people could not join together to set the conditions they would work under. Market forces would quickly destroy any harmful monopoly that arose, and a free people would not tolerate coercion.
However, today’s market is not free. Government interference in the market always helps established and connected interests. Radical unions with no connection to the state can help individual workers free the market. They can be a mechanism to correct distortions caused by statist intervention.
It has been said that because companies function best when they treat their workers best, there is really no need for unions. However it is well known that government intervention in the market protects large established firms from competition both through regulations that lock out startups and through outright corporate welfare. This protection allows them to operate less efficiently than they would in the free market, and both customers and employees are left with fewer choices over where to take their business.
Individualism does not mean that people cannot work together. Rather, choosing who to associate with is a key part of individualism. When unions are not state partners they can help the individual accomplish this.
