Happy Labor (Union Free) Day

Samuel Gompers, the father of the modern American labor union movement, once said,

I want to urge devotion to the fundamental of human liberty-to the principles of voluntarism. No lasting gain has ever come from compulsion. …  [T]he workers of America adhere to voluntary institutions in preference to compulsory systems which are held to be not only impractical, but a menace to their rights, their welfare and their liberty.

Today, labor union bosses have eschewed that principle of volunteerism, and the Employee Free False Choice Act is Exhibit A, as the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes today.  You might also enjoy this interview with National Right to Work Committee’s Doug Stafford on this Labor (Union Free) Day.

But if you’d rather read the union boss pablum, check out AFL-CIO’s Bill George’s piece in the Patriot-News.  Then for a dose of reality, read The Perils of Slavish Devotion to Organized Labor.

Happy Labor Day!