    The locked out workers of AK Steel recently voted to reject their employer’s latest, and possibly last, contract offer, effectively setting the stage for punitive action against the workers and their union. Traditionally, American sympathy has been with unions and their workers because Americans often see them as the underdogs against an unfair and greedy employer. The case of AK Steel, however, illustrates a truth about modern organized labor, and that is the reality that unions work to protect special interests without thought to the consequences of that protection.
    The reality of the modern marketplace is that companies must change the way they do business in order to stay competitive. This is not to say that competitiveness should he achieved by exploiting the workers, however achieving competitiveness should be a two way street. Unions cannot continue to demand more money and better benefits without also promising some sort of increase in productivity or greater flexibility to the employer in return. Because unions cannot seem to see the reality of this requirement, lockouts, layoffs, and bankruptcy are the inevitable result.
    The microcosm of the AK Steel lockout represents a broader problem that unionized workers and their employers face as they deal with globalization and increased competitiveness. Employers must find ways to remain financially sound by carefully managing production efficiency and costs. Unions must remain responsive to those requirements by representing and encouraging a workforce that provides the most cost effective and efficient work possible. Further, employers must provide a reasonable work environment and compensation to its workers while the unions must ensure that the workers are actually doing the work they are being paid to do.
    Currently, the problem has become that unions continue to demand improved compensation even while their relative productivity and efficiency remains stagnant or declines. Employers must find ways to combat this trend as external completion constantly threatens not just corporate profits but corporate viability altogether. As union demands become more unreasonable, corporate failure becomes more likely, and the end result will be lost jobs.
    This trend is not limited to just manufacturing. While instances like AK Steel are the most noticeable, the same trend applies wherever unions represent workers in industry, commerce, and government. Too often, these unions create a confrontational and unproductive environment, defending inefficient and costly workers and work practices to the detriment of worker and employer alike. The result is that, where there are unions, there are most often organizations in the process of failing.
    This indictment of unions does not presume that unions do not have a place in the modern marketplace. To the contrary, the modern purpose of the union should be to ensure that its workers remain employed and employable by making sure they can compete. Such assurance comes from worker education and training, encouraging worker innovation and productivity, and working with employers to transition from inefficiency to competitive efficiency.
    The unions that realize this purpose and act upon it will find that their workers will remain employed and well compensated. Unions that fail at this purpose will find themselves rendered irrelevant and impotent. Ultimately, it will be all Americans who suffer because of this trend, as America looses its ability to compete on the world stage.
DLH
