Are Labor Unions going Extinct?

The NYT reports that the National Labor Relations Board charged that Starbucks, everyone's favorite coffee joint, broke the law 30 times as it tried to discourage union activity at four locations in Manhattan. But the story is not about an evil corporation taking advantage of hapless workers. Rather, the focus of attention is the overwhelming anti-union sentiment at private businesses in general and do-gooder concerns like Starbucks and Whole Foods in particular. Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that "accusations of union-busting and poor pay" simply don't matter in one of the most liberal cities in America.

Business owners aren't just expressing a mild preference for fewer unions. Whole Foods' CEO John Mackey is extremely hostile to unionization. He has gone so far as to say that unions are "highly unethical and self-interested".

Why is a socially conscious leader like Mackey getting away with being so down on unions? The easy answer is that most people are opposed to unions these days. The last twenty years have witnessed a collapse in organized labor. And if government workers are excluded from calculations, less than 8% of employees belong to a union.

The article credits the trend toward political activism via conspicuous consumption that has brought us such wonders as the Prius and compact fluorescent light bulbs. And while this cultural movement no doubt has some impact, other factors seem more significant. The trend toward the service sector at the broad expense of manufacturing, fewer government restrictions on anti-union efforts, increased competition from abroad, and better market institutions all seem more likely to negatively influence unions more.

But unions will likely be fixtures in certain sectors of the economy for many years to come. For example, Hollywood, grocery stores, and professional sports are all likely to remain highly unionized for the foreseeable future.

The real question mark is the fate of unionized automakers. In a very real sense, the Big Three automakers are tied to unions in a manner their foreign competitors will never be. If GM, Ford, and Chrysler continue to crash and burn while Toyota and the other Asian automakers grow without significant union presence, it could spell the end of unions in their most high-profile instantiation.

Today, things don't look good for the unions.