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The Union Makes us Strong, but Does it Make Us Free? A Review of Mark Reiff’s In the Name of Liberty: The Argument for Universal Unionization

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Abstract

Mark Reiff’s book In the Name of Liberty: The Argument for Universal Unionization successfully delivers the promise contained in the title—the case for a version of liberal capitalism where every worker would belong to a union. The argument, based on the greater freedom unions bring to workers, clearly seeks an overlapping consensus, for virtually all major contemporary political philosophies defend freedom. The book especially tries to be appealing to right-libertarians. This review will argue, however, that Reiff takes the ‘liberty’ in ‘libertarianism’ way too seriously. Right-libertarians do not defend liberty; they defend property rights. Reiff’s argument will certainly be convincing to anyone who believes liberty is the main currency of justice. The problem is precisely that not everyone believes that.

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Notes

  1. For an extensive analysis of ‘what did unions do’, see the eponymous title from Richard Freeman and James Medoff that Reiff himself mentions (Freeman & Medoff 1984). For additional evidence on what are the consequences of them not doing it anymore, see (Rosenfeld 2014).

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  1. School of Law, University of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

    Stanislas Victor Richard

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  1. Stanislas Victor Richard
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Correspondence to Stanislas Victor Richard.

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Richard, S. The Union Makes us Strong, but Does it Make Us Free? A Review of Mark Reiff’s In the Name of Liberty: The Argument for Universal Unionization. Res Publica 28, 217–222 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-021-09510-7

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