Look up how it actually works.
An evergreen, citable reference for the concepts that decide how power, money, and work get arranged — written plainly, free to reproduce, and built to be argued with.
Worth reading
One entry from each domainSold as a worker’s freedom; built to drain the money a union runs on.
Capital Shareholder PrimacyWhom a company is required to serve — and whom it is free to ignore. [placeholder]
The State The Taft-Hartley ActThe 1947 law still shaping what a union is allowed to ask for. [placeholder]
Ideology The Free-Rider ProblemWhen opting out of a shared good is the individually rational move. [placeholder]
History The PATCO Strike, 1981Eleven thousand fired at once; a template for breaking strikes set. [placeholder]
Institutions The N.L.R.B.The referee each side is sure is secretly playing for the other. [placeholder]
Did you know…
From new entries- …that no American worker can be compelled to join a union, and hasn’t been able to be since 1947 — so “right-to-work” must be banning something else entirely?
- …that worker productivity and worker pay climbed together until about 1973, then split — and the two lines never rejoined?
- …that the largest category of theft in the country, measured in dollars, is wage theft — and it is almost never prosecuted as a crime?
- …that the same person doing the same job can be an “employee” or a “contractor”, and only one of them is owed a minimum wage?
Recently revised
May 2026- Right-to-Work Laws Tightened the Vance Muse origin and added the Janus note. 28 May
- Collective Bargaining New section on pattern bargaining across an industry. 24 May
- The Strike The one form of leverage capital cannot replace overnight. New · 19 May
- Surplus Value Where profit actually comes from, rewritten in plainer terms. 12 May
- The Reserve Army of Labor Why a little unemployment is useful to the people doing the hiring. New · 6 May
From the record
The long memory- 1935The Wagner Act guarantees the right to organize — the high-water mark everything after is measured from.
- 1947Congress passes Taft-Hartley over a presidential veto, opening the door to state right-to-work laws.
- 1981Eleven thousand air traffic controllers are fired at once, and a template for breaking strikes is set.
- 2018Janus v. AFSCME makes every public-sector workplace in the country right-to-work by judicial order.
A field guide to who carries the Valley’s health and environmental costs when they leave the producer’s ledger.
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