Don’t Take the Boss’s Bait
In the wake of Janus, it's tempting for some trade unionists to give up on representing all workers in a given workplace. This is exactly what the boss wants.
Garment workers picket in New York City during the Dressmakers’ strike of 1958.Kheel Center
Now that the open shop is the law of the land in the public sector, it’s natural for unionists to ask, “Why should we represent the freeloaders?” and consider giving up exclusive representation, opting instead to bargain for and represent only actual members of the union.
But employers love this position — because for the last century and half, it’s been their position.
From the open-shop movement of the early 1900s to the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act in 1947 to opposing public-employee unionism in the 1960s, employers have always rejected the idea that unions represent more than a collection of individual workers.
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