In the National Review, Thomas M. Johnson, Jr. writes about a fascinating labor issue at a Tennessee Volkswagen plant:

The 1935 Wagner Act forbids employees from collectively negotiating the terms of their employment with management unless they are represented by an independent trade union.

In the end, federal labor law is operating in Chattanooga the way it was designed to — by fostering adversity between rent-seeking unions and management, mediated by a pro-union federal bureaucracy. As a result, both the company and its employees have suffered.

It does not need to be this way. In a country that values free speech and free association, employees and management should not have to endure Rube Goldberg machinations to meet and resolve issues of critical concern to both parties. Rather, they should have the flexibility to experiment with alternatives to traditional high-cost trade unions.

Read the full article.