American communities depend on collective action. Fire and police departments are great examples: They can function successfully because all of us pay in — not only those whose houses have burned down or been burglarized. These institutions work on the principle that the most effective way to protect individual interests is for all to contribute a little for the common benefit. When someone doesn’t contribute, everyone suffers. If someone didn’t want to chip in for firefighters or police officers but still expected the benefits of these collective protections, they would be considered freeloaders, and their behavior would be rightly vilified. Yet when it comes to the labor movement, free-riding is exactly the response that conservatives are encouraging. Throughout the country, Republicans have been pushing to expand “right to work” laws, which force unions to represent employees who do not pay to receive these benefits. It’s as if people were allowed to avoid paying in for firefighters yet the fire department were still required to serve them. Whether they actively participate or not, individuals in a workplace where a union is present benefit from collective organization. On average, workers covered by union contracts have wages 13.6 percent higher than their nonunion counterparts’. Conservatives disingenuously advocate that employees opt out from paying for such collective benefits without acknowledging how this undermines improved conditions for all. In short, they are calling for free-riding. This Labor Day, we should affirm the benefits that unions have created — not only for their members but for all working people in America.

We brought you the weekend

In 2012, Indiana and Michigan passed “right to work” laws obligating unions to represent workers whether or not they pay into collective organizations. Since then, there has been a push to pass similar measures throughout the country, with at least 21 other states debating whether to follow suit. “Right to work” supporters present their position as promoting free choice for employees, but in fact, their advocacy is clearly designed for the benefit of employers. By weakening collective institutions, employers gain the right to pay whatever they want as long as they meet minimum wage requirements, without significant input from those they hire. The result is downward pressure on wages.

Union members were 53.9 percent more likely to have a pension and 28.2 percent more likely to have health insurance.

Few conservatives would publicly promote going back to working conditions that existed before organized labor. Standards we take for granted today — such as prohibitions against child labor, the five-day work week and the minimum wage — were implemented only after being pushed for decades by people who had come together in unions. The eight-hour workday has been a goal of the American Federation of Labor since it was founded in 1886, and it became reality in an increasing number of U.S. workplaces thanks to persistent union advocacy. Medicare, established in 1965, had been pushed by labor leaders since Harry Truman’s administration 20 years earlier. The very contours of our working lives, from paid lunch breaks to retirement plans, were victories won by labor unions. As one popular bumper sticker reminds us, the members of the labor movement are “the folks who brought you the weekend.” Since such gains are overwhelmingly popular, conservatives will not challenge them head on. Instead, they use disingenuous language about individual choice as a way to undermine collective organization by employees.

Shared interests