That gives unions more bargaining power in two ways: the big investment made it hard for firms to exit the labour market; and it was a lot easier to unionise (and then negotiate with) a few big establishments than a multitude of small ones.There is still a question over how much value unions can offer to workers in exchange for their dues.
Whether wage coordination is beneficial for unions depends on the size of these costs: up to a threshold value, unions are better off with independent negotiations.
The dispute became tangled in the election campaign, with Republicans saying the Democrats valued union support over national security and prominent Democrats accusing the White House today of killing its own proposal to tar the Democrats as unpatriotic.
The labor relations statute bars employers from providing "thing of value" to unions and union officials.
Luckily, we at The Huffington Post value the union part of the State of the Union.
It's easy for me as an overpaid, over-educated whiteboy to question the value of union membership, but judging by many of the snippets of conversation I hear as I walk around the union hall, for many members, Culinary 226 is all that stands between them and the breadline.
Too right we should, if we value the union, though Fleet St has risen to the news of Saturday's leadership win with its usual Brexit-style myopia.
Moreover, if it were true that they did, it would be deeply worrying: what value a union that can be bought so cheaply?
But even those who value the union despair at the complexity and absurdity of its finances.Were the Treaty of Rome signed today, the EU would not choose to spend two-fifths of its budget on agriculture.
On the other hand are those who value monetary union less for any economic benefits, than for the pure policy goal of promoting European unification in all or most forms, with monetary union being the first tentative step towards a European federation.
