The Leftist-unionist

A representative from my work-place's union approached me the other day, asking me if I wasn't going to join the union. I said no. This union, Fagligt Fælles Forbund (or simply 3F), is active in Danish politics and buys whole-page commercials in newspapers to try to move votes to the Left. The union has forgotten that unions used to be about pressing wages up and worker's rights into a positive direction. This one simply wants to have a government to the Left. Since unions became "accepted" in the Western world, they have had to find new ways of being controversial, and pushing for a certain pattern of votes is certainly a way to achieve that. Therefore I want nothing to do with it, although they had a lot to do with the wages and "benefits" I get in my workplace.

In my conversation with the unionist I discovered a major controversy in the Leftist-mind. The unionist said that workers need to "stick together" against their employer because the employer is always trying to increase the worker's load without fair compensation. The worker should always be alert and not be pushed over by his employer. That is why a union is necessary, the unionist said, because it activates the workers if the employer goes too far.

My question is this: Why is it that a unionist and a Leftist realizes this about his employer, but completely ignores it when it comes to the State? Actually, the Leftist-unionist is for a bigger State and therefore increased State-interference with the worker's life and budget. This is remarkable. The State is always trying to squeeze in more regulations and taxes and hopes it can do so in steps small enough for anyone to notice. The worker has its union to "protect" him against his employer. Does the normal, law-abiding, working citizen have anything similar when it comes to the State, besides a few noise-making right-winged groups of libertarians and freedom-fighters?