Is it Possible to Reconcile Unions with the Libertarian Legal Code?

Walter Block

Chapter 5 in Labor Economics from a Free Market Perspective:Employing the Unemployable, 2008, pp 51-65 from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Abstract: AbstractThe present paper subjects unions to a libertarian analysis and finds this organizational structure highly problematic from the perspective of the criminal law. Libertarianism is defined as that philosophy which opposes the initiation, or the threat thereof, of violence against non-aggressive people. Unions are characterized as groups which although need not in principle act contrary to this stricture, as a matter of fact always and ever do so. Hence, organized labor, as presently constituted, cannot be reconciled with libertarian principles of non-aggression. However, it is clear that although they cannot be reconciled with libertarian principles, unions are not breaking any current laws, and therefore cannot be considered to be criminal or illegitimate from a legal perspective. They can only be looked upon as criminal or illegitimate from a libertarian point of view.

Keywords: Labor; Unions; Economics; Wages; Race; Sex; Discrimination; Unemployment; Immigration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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