It is hard to be "the most pro-union president in American history,” as Joe Biden likes to claim, while also leading an effort to "reimagine and rebuild a new economy,” as he has also promised. That’s because these goals are fundamentally incompatible: America’s unions no longer fit the modern economy.
In fact, in many ways unions actually prevent the economy from evolving. The recently ended International Longshoremen’s Association strike is an illustration. The dockworkers went back to work after getting a 61.5% pay increase, but they are still negotiating "language to protect us from automation,” in the words of the president of the Baltimore local.
Automation stands to make U.S. ports and transportation of goods cheaper and more efficient. And it is easy to see why unions oppose it: Much of the decline in manufacturing employment over the last several decades was due to automation.
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