Jul 20, 2020 5 min read

Police unions present a dilemma for progressives. Progressives appreciate the importance of unions generally in helping workers secure better wages and benefits, more control over their workplace, protection from being fired, and workplace safely. But police have historically been used to protect property and control striking workers. Police unions tend to be quite conservative compared to most other unions, not surprisingly advocating for “law and order,” which many on the left see as a euphemism for oppressing people who challenge authority. Police have also historically been disproportionately white, often policing communities of color, creating a dynamic with clear racial overtones.

On the other hand, police unions, along with other public sector unions (teachers, government workers, firefighters), have been one area of growth amidst a general decline in union membership. In 2019, 33% of the public sector was unionized, compared to only 6% of private sector workers. As government grew after World War II, public sector unions grew in size and power; starting in the 1970s, private sector unions began to decline as the industries with the biggest unions (auto, steel, coal) either lost market share or mechanized, losing workers. In 1973, more than 80% of union members worked in the private sector; by 2009, fewer than half did.

Many conservatives are critical of unions, but they particularly loathe public sector unions. AFSCME and the teachers’ unions are the backbone of modern Democratic politics, providing money and more importantly, their organizing support, to liberal causes. Conservatives like Scott Walker (former Republican governor of Wisconsin) actively worked to destroy public sector unions. Walker got Act 10 passed in 2011, which greatly damaged public sector unions in Wisconsin by forcing them to accept reduced pensions, limited collective bargaining and pay increased costs for health care. He exempted police and firefighters’ unions from the Act 10 provisions because some of them supported him politically.

Conservatives argue that the power of private sector unions is limited by the market; if unions force companies to pay them more, eventually those companies will have to raise prices and will lose business, so there is a limit to what workers can demand. But public sector employees are paid by taxes, and residents can’t choose an alternative service, so the only thing limiting the demands of public sector employees is the discipline of political leaders, which can be a scarce commodity. Making resistance even more unlikely, politicians often accommodate union pressure by awarding future benefits, leaving the costs to future taxpayers.

Union critics argue that public sector unions should not be allowed to strike. PATCO, the air traffic controllers’ union broken by President Reagan in 1981, found out that many people agree with this sentiment. Without the power to strike, unions are essentially social organizations.

The Boston police strike exemplifies some of the issues with striking police. Just after the end of World War I, Boston police (mostly poor Irish immigrants who worked long hours) struck because they had not had a raise in five years and the postwar inflation was making it difficult to survive economically. The Republican police commissioner was very anti-union, and fired the patrolmen who were unionizing (which precipitated the strike).

Most patrolmen went on strike, and criminals and rioters took advantage of their absence, striking fear in the citizens of Boston. The police chief recruited Harvard students and faculty to help, and eventually the governor, Calvin Coolidge, sent in the militia, ending the strike. In light of the experience in Boston, the budding effort to form police unions in cities across America fizzled out.

After the strike, Coolidge proclaimed, “There is no right to strike against public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime.” Police strikes do not always endanger public safety, however: a five-day strike in New York City in 1971 saw essentially no increase in crime during the strike.

An important role for any union is to prevent its employees from being unjustly fired. Unfortunately, in our adversarial system, unions almost always fight the firing of a union member, even if they deserve to be fired. This has undermined some popular support for unions, since many people understandably think employees who are incompetent or have other serious issues should lose their jobs.

When police make mistakes, innocent people can go to jail and people can die. So police unions inevitably end up supporting officers who have killed civilians, and often prevent them from being disciplined or fired. Union contracts have required the sealing (or even destruction) of disciplinary records, allowed accused police to see the records of their investigation, and require that accused officers be given time before being interviewed about their alleged misconduct, a courtesy police never extended to other alleged perpetrators. The court’s doctrine of “qualified immunity” makes the conviction of officers who violate the law very difficult.

A lack of accountability allows police to act with impunity, exacerbating the mistreatment of civilians. A study of sheriff’s departments in Florida found that departments that gained collective bargaining rights had 40% more complaints about their mistreatment of citizens than those who didn’t.

Some people on the left want the AFL-CIO to disassociate itself from police unions, but like any workers, police officers deserve to have union protection. It is appropriate that unions help members bargain for wages, benefits, and working conditions. Unions should also help those accused of misconduct to get a fair hearing, but preventing justified punishment of officers who engage in misconduct endangers public safety. Given the power police have, they should also be held to high standards of conduct; weakening measures that provide accountability should not be part of the bargaining process. Unions that prevent accountability undermine efforts to improve policing.

Kent James is an East Washington resident and has degrees in history and policy management from Carnegie Mellon University. He is an adjunct professor of history at Washington & Jefferson College.