Speaking Up

In union there is strength.

Nature abhors a vacuum.

　Of the four major elements that make up any economy, Labor may be the most controversial, partly because Labor is the only one that has a voice. (The other elements, or factors of production as they are formally known, are Land, Capital and Entrepreneurial Skill.)
   The term Land refers to natural resources, and includes not only farm acreage, but also forests, mining, and water.
   To an economist, Capital does not mean money or financial resources, but refers to any improvement or investment in machines, for example, or other things that increase productivity or make production more efficient.
   An entrepreneur, from the French meaning a go-between, is a person who gathers the other elements and organizes their productive capacity.
   In economics, payment for the use of Land resources is called Rent. Payment to Labor is called Wages, return from the use of Capital improvement is called Interest, and payment to the Entrepreneur is called Profit.

   Entrepreneurs gather, organize and exploit the other factors of production for their own benefit as well as to serve society, and their reward for doing so is profit.
   The word "exploit" is used here not in a negative, abusive sense, but as a neutral term to describe what is done. Certainly, some entrepreneurs are abusive, and that's where Labor speaks up in its own defense. The result is controversy with abusive entrepreneurs.

   There was a time when entrepreneurs, the landlords of Capitalism, owned the resources and workers had little or no ability to avoid being exploited in an extreme, abusive way. That changed, however, with the advent of unions. Labor could and did organize into collective bargaining units, since individual bargaining ability was so weak as to be powerless.
   At one time, the entrepreneurs of Capitalism were so powerful and so exploitative -- in a negative sense -- that the downtrodden workers rebelled. In was in this that Karl Marx foresaw the collapse of Capitalism and the rise to power of Labor.
   What he failed to see, however, was that management would accept the rights of workers and would show a willingness to accommodate workers' needs (sometimes forced to do so through government intervention). Meanwhile, unions became so strong that management found it more worthwhile to cooperate with unions to create a more productive, efficient company.
   However, it was also true that some unions became so strong that power corrupted the process, and labor became so dominant as to be abusive. In recent years, union membership has been sliding, labor's power has been weakening, and management has been moving into the power void.
   Somewhere there is a middle ground where both sides can profit.