A Bastion of Structural Discrimination - Labor Unions?

Who exactly do unions protect?  According to Morgan O. Reynolds, the answer is not minorities.

"Despite considerable rhetoric to the contrary, unions have blocked the economic advance of blacks, women, and other minorities. That is because another of their functions, once they have raised wages above competitive levels, is to ration the jobs that remain. The union can discriminate on the basis of blood relationships or skin color rather than auctioning off (openly selling) the valuable jobs to the highest-bidding applicants." (You can read the rest of the post here: Labor Unions)

Reynolds contends that because unions are not subject to federal taxation and antitrust laws, they are not obligated to abstain from discrimination (as corporations are).  Essentially, the unions are wholly democratic structures, meaning that the prejudices of the majority can oppress those subjected to that bias.  As there is no protection for women, blacks or other minorities within a union, they cannot demand fair hiring and advancement practices.  Reynolds even cites union opposition by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois, two early civil rights leaders with very different ideas on how to enhance the standing of African Americans in society.

On the issues of unions, I am still conflicted.  There is no question that the organizations were essential in freeing workers from ungodly conditions in the early part of the 20th century.  And I certainly maintain that Scott Walker's actions in Wisconsin are nothing more than a political stunt aimed at garnering political support and paying back some of his big-money backers.  But I think Reynolds raises a point that must be considered as the landscape of organized labor is drastically changing under current economic conditions.

Also, just a bit more on Morgan O. Reynolds: he was Chief Economist at the US Department of Labor under G.W. Bush, and gained some national attention in 2005 as a founding member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, a group which contends that 9/11 was an inside job and that 747s never actually flew into the World Trade Towers.  Take that for what it is worth.  Props to Abraham Sangha at The Institute for linking this Library of Economics and Liberty post.