The BS doesn't end, and now the left is attacking Yang for pointing out on TYT that special interests on the left includes "teachers unions". Of course, progressives are acting like Yang just killed their puppy for the 50th time this month, and are acting all offended at this. How can you be against unions? They just want workers to be treated better right? Well...yeah. Let's unpack this to some extent.
The aim of unions is good and I largely agree with them. They are a solution to the employer-worker relations that exist under capitalism. But, as we know, from my indepentarian perspective, many solutions that are not UBI are mere band aids for me. Unions tend to form when people decide to bargain as a block, allowing them to match the power of employers in negotiations since if the employers don't play by their rules, they can just walk and strike. And unions have been effective in the past at giving workers higher bargaining power and the downfall of unions are one reason why workers have it harder today. I acknowledge this.
However, unions never really solve the core issue of wage slavery. Only a government guarantee of your basic needs such as what happens with UBI can really solve that in my opinion. Unions allow people to get higher wages and better working conditions the like under the best of circumstances, but they dont really acknowledge individual freedom. I often hear from conservatives, what if i join a company and don't want to be part of the union? Well, by signing onto employment with the company, you're also beholden to the union and have to pay dues. While in general people are better off paying the dues to the benefits unions normally provide, sometimes people might question this.
UBI on the other hand would allow people to withhold their labor power individually, driving up wages and improving working conditions without being forced into a collective.
But, isnt the collective and forced nature of unions, kind of bad as well? I mean, I guess? What if a union doesn't do its job? Or becomes corrupt? Or doesnt serve the public's interests or interests of its constituents?
Unions, at their worst, can get in bed with employers, failing their obligations to improve the lives of workers. What if you're unsatisfied with your union's performance? What recourse do you have?
They can start getting involved in politics. There's a long standing history between unions and the democratic party, and it's not always a good thing. For example, in the early stages of capitalism, wage slavery was a common criticism of capitalism. But unions came in, bargained for higher wages, and suddenly, they started arguing there is dignity in work. Now, you think these guys are going to turn around one day and go anti work like I am? NO. They're gonna argue that jobs are helpful and useful and "dignified" and how dare you not want to work them. They resolved the issues with work from their standpoint so you have no reason to complain about the conditions. Widerquist's "big casino" essay kind of covers this mentality somewhat, and given that kind of covers my core ideology, yeah, I can see how unions can become a detriment.
Unions also tend to fight against healthcare. What was one of biden's arguments against universal healthcare? Essentially that making healthcare public and universal would undermine the gains unions have made over the years in ensuring good healthcare plans for their employees. Because unions fought for employer based health coverage, we should be stuck with that system to the end of time I guess.
That's the problem with unions. Like the democratic party, they can become institutions that outlive their usefulness. And then they start fighting to preserve their existence and maintain their survival, rather than fighting for the common good. Once they start making gains, and once they start achieving results, even if those results are imperfect and dated, we're stuck with them, because these groups aren't going to want to see their gains undone for something better. It's the same thing as the democratic party. Because obama passed the ACA we must be stuck with his system because doing away with it for something better would undo Obama's legacy and devalue all of the struggle that people went through to get that. People don't want to be told that their struggles were for nothing. They insist we be stuck with their flawed accomplishments until the end of time to justify their egos. That is a core problem with the democratic party, and it's a core problem with unions.
This isn't to say that unions are bad. Unions are good, but they're a flawed tool that sometimes outlive their usefulness. And they don't always achieve the best results or solve the core problems. They solve the problems in ways that puff up those institutions as good, where it closes the door on other progress, because it might undermine the progress we've already made. Democrats and the left seem stuck in that mindset in general. That's why they hate yang for the most part in my opinion. Yang supports efficient government that works. he hates the inelegance of a lot of government solutions, and wants to reform the system to be...well...better.
Now, to be fair, there is another side of this, and I will absolutely SLAM yang for this one. As I said despite my respect for yang and his UBI advocacy and him being on my good side with a third party, I'm too independent minded to just be nice to him when he's wrong. I googled yang and teacher unions and as it turns out, yang's fixation on teacher unions might not be as ideological as above.
Essentially, he's been blaming teacher unions for delaying school reopenings. And this is one of those times I have to be like, bad, yang, bad. He essentially wants schools to open. In the middle of a pandemic. And teachers unions are like "no we shouldn't do that, it's unsafe". And it IS unsafe. Look, while I'm perfectly fine with middle school on up returning to the classroom given 12+ can get the covid vaccine, the 5-11 age range CAN'T yet. So, if you have teachers in schools, they're gonna be around unvaccinated kids. Who spread the disease. And get everyone, and each other sick. And the teachers unions are trying to stop this. And Yang is mad about it.
I understand why he might see this as special interests getting in the way of the public good. But to me I see this as special interests protecting people as part of the common good. And to go further, Yang seems to believe principals should have more latitude in hiring and firing decisions, and that politicians are beholden to these unions. I sympathize with politicians being beholden to unions, unions can be just as much of a special interest as any big corporation flooding the political scene with cash, but at the same time, no I support the workers here. It was speculated he was playing politics here with the mayoral race but if he's still pushing this narrative, he may still believe it. The fact is, based on this article, he may have been pushing that narrative because he knew he couldn't get their endorsement, and their endorsement goes a long way within democratic party politics. So he started attacking them instead, hoping to get browny points with those who wanted to reopen the schools.
Honestly, I don't know what yang's heart is on the subject, but either way its cringey. If he legit believed this, it was cringey, if he didn't and was playing politics, it was cringey. This is why i hated yang's mayoral run, he seemed so fake and it was hard to know what the dude believed.
But, he did bring up, in the subject at hand, that the teacher unions are a special interest. And that they do influence the political system. He's not wrong. And either way I kind of agree with him on that point. No one should need to kiss up to a union to get elected. And that is a sign of corruption within the system. I know George McGovern's failed run as a democrat in 1972 fell apart in part due to unions refusing to support him too. They become part of the team, and they play the game, and they can make or break your career, and that ins't right.
Still, on the issue of schools reopening, yang is just wrong, and unions were protecting the workers. Like they should.
That said, I can see substance in yang's arguments and I'm not always super pro union, but at the same time he deserves some criticism here. At best for being insincere, at worst for arguing for reopening schools during a pandemic.
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