Notre Dame Law Review Volume 35 Article 4 Issue 5 Symposium 9-1-1960 Sources and Extent of Union Power Sylvester Petro Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Sylvester Petro, Sources and Extent of Union Power, 35 Notre Dame L. Rev. 603 (1960). Available at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr/vol35/iss5/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Notre Dame Law Review by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE SOURCES AND EXTENT OF UNION POWER By Sylvester Petro* The most pressing need in labor relations today is a policy which will meet the social threats posed by union power without increasing the even more critical threats posed by big government. Many unions have abused working men and businessmen, exploited consumers, and demonstrated again and again their power to disrupt the economy. The abuses of big government are different, but they are even more deadly and more irrevocable. Unchecked they mean an end to the personal freedom and private property rights which have been the most significant features of western civilization. A policy which will remove the union threat without increasing the role of government is available and can be expressed in very simple terms. Al- though that policy is at present politically unacceptable, politics can be trusted to follow public opinion. The job, therefore, is one of establishing that the gravest threats can be effectively removed without increasing the role and power of government.