The International Longshoremen's Association and its 45,000 members went on strike Tuesday, warning that 36 U.S. ports along the East Coast and Gulf Coast could be paralyzed. The already fragile U.S. logistics system gives unions significant leverage, but the damage caused by Hurricane Helen has exacerbated the need to re-establish supply lines.
While conservatives have traditionally opposed unions, many on the right have recently become more sympathetic to collective bargaining, as the focus shifted to working-class conditions during the Trump administration. But as ILA President Harold Daggett declared, “I'm going to cripple you!” Many conservatives found it difficult to reconcile their newfound support for the Labor Party with blunt statements from a leader who seemed uninterested in the struggles of suffering Americans.
Soulless companies are no heroes here, but neither are unions. After all, they are both part of the same destructive system.
The right must learn some hard truths. Big union leaders do not serve the working class. they serve overall condition.
In 1911, sociologist Robert Michels published his study of power dynamics, Political Parties, which examined the inner workings of German trade unions. This book, with Michels' formulation of the iron law of oligarchy, became the basis of what is now called “elite theory” or political realism.
The iron law of oligarchy asserts that complex organizations, no matter how democratic or egalitarian they claim to be, inevitably elevate a small group of organizers to the ruling class, turning the organization into an oligarchy. I'm doing it. An organized minority always leads an unorganized majority. As Michels puts it, “It's an organization that gives control to the electorate over the electorate. …What people say is an oligarchy is an oligarchy.”
The Industrial Revolution fundamentally changed the relationship between individuals and workers. Subsistence farmers and guild artisans who had once had a direct and personal connection to their work suddenly found themselves thrown into the alienating environment of factory wage labor. Size has become an important factor, but society has largely ignored its impact.
As production and consumption expanded, so did labor bargaining. Workers could no longer discuss wages individually with their bosses, as they were just cogs in a much larger machine. Bosses are no longer individual owners with meaningful decision-making power, but managers representing faceless groups of investors. Collective bargaining became the only way for workers to leverage their labor power against vast amounts of megacapital.
In his analysis, Michels found that despite unions claiming to represent workers, union leaders often put their own interests ahead of those of their members. did. Union bosses may start out as rank-and-file workers, but their skills quickly elevate them beyond their peers. They move from day labor to full-time organizational and activist work. They spend their days talking to politicians and negotiating with CEOs, disconnected from the very situations they aim to improve.
Labor leaders necessarily recognize that their personal interests differ from those of the average union member. They are best served by becoming influence brokers within the ruling class rather than securing the interests of workers. After all, it is the organization and its influence that serves the leader, not the leader who serves the organization and its members.
I support American workers earning wages that allow them to support their families, own homes, and even strike for it, but this is not the primary interest of the ILA or Harold Daggett. He may be negotiating wage increases at the moment, but his primary purpose is to demonstrate influence, not to serve the long-term interests of the working class.
ILA supports Joe Biden and supports the Democrats who are responsible for allowing cheap foreign labor to flow into this country through illegal immigration. In addition to increasing crime and increasing the cost of living for union members, this influx of undocumented workers is driving down wages for American-born people. But the ILA and Daggett don't care because workers are not their real concern. Their real goal is to seize power and secure positions of influence within the oligarchy.
Unfortunately, Daggett embodies the image of an oligarchic elite pretending to be a defender of the working class. As a worker boss, he earns more than $900,000 a year excluding bonuses, drives a Bentley, and owns a 76-foot luxury yacht. The Justice Department accused him of having ties to the notorious Genovese crime family. Daggett defeated racketeering charges in 2005 after the decomposed body of a person of interest was found in the trunk of a car outside a New Jersey diner. He lives like an oligarchy, because he is an oligarchy.
More workers deserve better wages, safe neighborhoods, and affordable housing. The recent shift by many on the right toward supporting the welfare of average American workers is a positive development, but we must be careful not to embrace a corrupt oligarchy masquerading as labor leadership. Must be. Soulless companies are no heroes here, but neither are unions. After all, they are both part of the same destructive system.
