The Union Comes to the South

No, this is not a historical article about the U.S. Civil War (though in 1861 today, November 20th, Kentucky's Confederate government filed its session ordinance). The "Union" here is the United Automobile Workers (UAW) union. The UAW is attempting to be recognized as the collective bargaining representative at Volkswagen's manufacturing plant in Chattanooga, TN. The recognition would be a major success for the UAW since the South has historically been resistant to unionization.

Hopefully, the UAW is successful and sets a modern precedent that helps unions expand in the South. Traditionally, unions tend to be supporters of the Democratic party and as such the unionization of manufacturing in the South may be seen a risk to the Republican party. However, this does not have to be a polarizing political issue.

Unions collectively bargain for workers to ensure that there is fair pay for fair work. The "fair work" part of the equation is often lost in translation. When people hear about Unions negotiating their contract with employers they tend to focus on worker pay and benefits. The other side of the equation is that these wage and benefit increases are generally tied to increases in productivity. Intuitively, this makes sense since the companies are in business to turn a profit. Continually, increasing worker pay and benefits without gaining anything in return from workers could bankrupt the company. Another important benefit to business from unionization is that it reduces the chances of strikes or other types of work stoppages conducted by workers. The contracts have an term limit and, as that limit is approached the union and the employer come to the table with their demands and design a new contract. This process brings stability for the business since they know that a strike will happen only if the contract negotiations fail.

To be fair the history of unions does have some intrigue like potential Mafia connections, back room deals, and even murder. Though the truth is unionization has been an win-win for both the employer and the worker. The workers are able to more successfully obtain better wages and benefits while the employer gains from mandated productivity increases (enforced by the union and employer in the contract) and the stability brought by the reduced probability of strikes. 

Furthermore, Republicans tend to favor deregulation, and unions can help with that. The federal government would not have to constantly manage workers rights since unions can collectively bargain to resolve issues like worker's safety.

From both a business and a political stand point unions can be a success.