In Chapter 18 of Modern Principles of Economics, there is a section on unions (pg. 339-340). I was intrigued by this section because I have multiple family members that are currently or were in the past part of a union. I have never been able to join in the conversation regarding unions because I haven’t known much about what they do, but reading this section has made it so that I may be able to keep a conversation about them now. I now understand that the purpose of a union is to create better wages and better working conditions for laborers. By reducing industry employment and threatening to strike unless employers use union workers, unions keep a handle on the supply of labor. I thought it was so intriguing that the textbook relates unions to cartels because similar to cartels, they gain money by limiting supply. Cartels raise prices, and unions raise wages. Think of how many fights I can start at Thanksgiving dinner by calling unions cartels! Unions can also have negative economic effects, though. I remember one family gathering when my grandfather was talking about a strike that was going on. He was talking about how much the strike would affect the families of the union members because of the loss of income, and my grandfather wondered about how the employer would respond to losing so many laborers. I could not contribute to the conversation back then, but now with my newfound knowledge of unions perhaps I can relate to my grandfather when he starts talking about his union next time!

According to an article from the Small Business Administration, when a company employs a person, they actually must pay about 1.25-1.4 times their salary. For example, for a person with a yearly salary of $50,000, their employer pays about $70,000 to actually keep them employed. Therefore, for that employee to be worth it to the company, they must provide $70,000 worth of work for a $50,000 salary. At first glance this may seem unfair, but in the Bible, God commands us multiple times to work diligently. The Lord wants us to do our best in everything we do. In Colossians 3:23, He says, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” Similarly, in 1 Corinthians 15:58, God says, “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.” We are called to work for the Lord, meaning that we do our very best to fulfill our duties in our careers, even going beyond the bare minimum to work hard and earn our pay – even though we must work harder than what may at first seem fair. How Much Does an Employee Cost You? (sba.gov)