Op-Ed by Susan Shotthafer
Posted April 4, 2017
The right to work is a natural, inalienable God-given, human right. The God-given right to life necessitates freedom to labor for food, shelter and other needs to sustain life and improve the quality of life.
As long as individuals do not use force to impose desired outcomes, voluntary formation of into an association to seek higher wages, benefits, working conditions, can be a useful, legitimate practice. However, because I have no God-given superiority over another adult, I cannot possess authority to force you, against your will, into an association for the purpose of negotiating conditions of my employment or conditions for a groups’ employment because I think you will benefit from these sought conditions.
If I acquire government authority to force you into a labor union, I have acquired government sanctioned privilege of authority over you. With or without government sanction, forcing you to act against your will is immoral since I have no natural superiority over you. I am acting immorally by forcing you to relinquish your freedom of association and violating your right-to-work to sustain your life and the lives of those for whom you have responsibility as their provider.
Groups cannot have rights that individuals do not have. Groups cannot have moral authority for the use of force, except for self-defense. Groups do have a right to self-defense because they are composed of individuals with the same natural right.
Forced unionization depriving you of freedom to labor for your sustenance unless you submit to union membership is a highly immoral construct regardless of the outcome. The possibility that I could find employment elsewhere does not alter the immorality of forced unionization.
Moreover, a plethora of economic facts show that unions, particularly public unions, now interfere with the individual’s and general welfare of our society.
