The St. Joseph Hospital system in California is taking a strong stand against union representation efforts by its employees despite the long history of support for farmworkers' unionization efforts by the  Catholic order that runs the hospital chain.

There are some who argue, sincerely and without selfish reasons, that labor unions may be needed for the lowest-paid, most vulnerable people in America but that unions are not beneficial for other kinds of working people.  We disagree.

Obviously, unions generally benefit workers by improving wages and benefits and deterring arbitrary punishment and firing.  But there is more to it. In every other context (from parent-teacher associations to little league teams to religious congregations and corporate bureaucracies), people gather together to discuss common needs and common solutions. They appoint spokespeople to represent them in communications with other groups. It is irrational to force workers in a company to remain individuals without meaningful opportunities to gather together to reach agreement on important matters about their jobs, appoint leaders for negotiations, and present those agreed ideas to their employer.

No valid reason exists to consider the workplace to be different than every other societal institution.

Do workers give up some autonomy when they belong to a union? Maybe, but they gain freedom from the ability of the employer to impose its will with no meaningful input from workers. This is a democracy and there is a price to pay for it:  the majority makes decisions all the time that a minority of people oppose.  Still, our democracy, as flawed as it is, gives most people a meaningful voice. That's what unions do.

St. Joseph's should end its irrational opposition to the workers' efforts to create a union. And we hope St. Joseph's will continue its history of supporting farmworker organizing.