Private-Sector Collective Bargaining Representation as a Free Legal Service

[Die Neue Zeit]

I wanted to bring a more critical eye to Michael Lebowitz's policy proposal in 2013 that labour law should impose "a tax on all companies without a collective contract. That tax would exceed a cost-of-living adjustment, and distribution of part of the proceeds of that tax would go to the trade unions for distribution among their members. The remainder of this tax would be available for a refund to the companies upon the signing of a collective contract."

Although this aims to be a policy nudge towards universal unionization, it also continues to promote the collective bargaining function as the best means of settling a non-political labour dispute. Therefore, I have updated my position on private-sector collective bargaining representation to take this policy proposal into account.

[tuwix]

It's nice try to adapt unions in corporations, but it lacks a solution of the problem of its atomized structure.

Let's get a bank. It has dozen thousand employees, but they are placed in hundreds places in a world. In its headquarter, there are employed a managerial staff who isn't interested in unions at all.

And this model works everywhere. If corporation is big, they are dispersed. If small, it's small enough to discourage an unionization.

I think that unions in service sector is case lost now. Only big capitalism crisis could break down atomization barriers.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Tuwix, that's exactly what the document above tries to address. The distant workplace of a small number of employees should have the same legal access to this service as the big factory near the river that has lots of employees.