A Union by Any Other Name, Part 1

Up until a short time ago, I thought I was late to the party on the ongoing debate concerning unions and that it had fallen to the wayside in the news cycle. That was until I watched the commentary on Wisconsin’s recall election, the debt ceiling fiasco, and the 8/11/11 Republican presidential debate. So, I figured I should weigh in with my views on the subject.

Here’s my disclaimer: I’m not affiliated with any party. In fact, when I take political tests, I come out as a Libertarian. Mainly this is due to my views that anything safe, sane, and conducted by consensual adults in the privacy of their homes has no place in public debate or legislation; and, government should do the maximum good at minimal costs. The first because it’s none of my business what people do, as long as I don’t have to see it or join in if I do not want to. The latter: the less money used the less corruption possible. My lack of political affiliation stems from lies and half-truths oozing out of the rhetoric of everyone in office. The power grabs are appalling and irritating.

The Art of Communication

You don’t have to have a language degree to know there are multiple ways to say the same thing. Take the words used to describe dogs. The common reference is “dog,” the scientific is “canine;” one can address them by breed (Cocker Spaniel, Chihuahua), breeding terms for gender, and so on. Either way, it is the same thing being described. What differs is how much detail is being provided along with the emotional response imbued in each word available to denote what one wishes to discuss. In “The Language Instinct,” Steven Pinker makes the claim that language is the desire to acquire a form of art. If one considers the range of sounds people can use to convey emotional states without a linguistic (language) connection, there is no need to convey thoughts about one’s own state of being. Add to this the vast array of nonverbal cues we use to get a point across and there is no need for words outside the transfer of concepts from one individual to another.

Words, then, are a means by which people transfer intangible, sometimes esoteric, ideas from their conscious mind to someone else’s. Because ideas are fluid, people need ways to indicate subtle changes with something more adaptable to the mercurial world of ideas. Hence, a vocabulary with shadings of meaning for similar or related objects. Word slippage may lead to misinterpretation, but it is this very nuance that gives the art of language its versatility and power. Word slippage is one of the ways in which we form new meanings and words to cover gaps in our concepts we were previously unaware of. The obsoletion of words is essentially the failure of a definition to remain viable for a society’s needs. Language as a technology remains useful so long as it serves the needs of its users.

Language is a technology? Yes, in the sense of the meaning of the Greek root “techné,” the “art or technique of revealing.” Language is a tool for transmitting thoughts and an art for revealing new facets of humanity’s relation within its place amongst the natural world. So, people communicate in order to further this process. This leads to another word that requires a bit of explanation: “communicate.” The root of this word means “to share.” Whenever we gesture, speak, write, or simply are present, we are sharing something with others. What then are people sharing in regards to the divide between unions and corporations? For that, an examination of the roots of those words is required.

Etymology of Two Groups

Despite the rhetoric and slippage in meaning, there is very little difference between unions and corporations. Both groups are formed out of a common interest. In this case, it is the desire to make money. To some, this may sound strange. Let’s begin with corporations.

“Incorporation” means “the act of forming a body.” It is literally in the Latin from which the word descends: in + corpus, which becomes incorporaer. The meaning is the same. Corporations then are organizations that are composed in order to form a whole from discrete parts. In the US, cities as well as businesses incorporate to create an entity designed for legal recognition as such. These organizations work towards a common purpose via a group effort it can leverage in its favor. For the city, that is securing its citizens’ safety and ability to eke out a living. Corporations exist to benefit its members financially using similar analogous functions to a town. The most notable is the council elected by members of the body to lead the organization. This group then oversees the organs that sustain the incorporated entity are supplied with whatever they need to carry out their function. This could be equipment, labor (fire, police, education, payroll, personnel, etc.), or procedural codes (laws, safety guidelines, etc.).

To “unionize” means “to become one.” Unions, then, are organizations which come together to become a single entity. Like an incorporated group, unions are formed out of a common goal. The root of “union” and “unionize” is “unum,” The Latin word for “one.” With a single front, the unionized collective can pursue its members’ interests with minimal risk to any one entity. I used “entity” here because not all unions are collectives of people. The United States is such a union of entities, along with the Chamber of Commerce. Keep in mind the language used in the Constitution reflects this: “in order to form a more perfect union.” Unions organize to protect its members from the leverage of other groups that employ such pressure on individuals to accept a contract that does not necessarily benefit the person. In order to do this, the union elects a panel to represent it and to organize the group’s resources and people to ensure the functioning of the union and produce its leverage. So, as one can see, the corollaries between unions and incorporated entities in what they are and how they function are virtually synonymous.

Finally, let’s take a look at the words “organize” and “organs” as they have some bearing on this subject. Like the previous pairs, these two words share a common root. Both enter English from Greek (organon) via Latin (organum). The original meaning is “implement, tool.” The organs of a body are, in a technical sense, tools. They have very specialized functions that keep the body working: fuel intake, fuel processing, pump, filter, communications and distribution system. Companies do this as well. Each department is an organ; an implement that serves a specific need to allow a corporation to function, such as payroll and human resources. Trade unions originally were designed to nurture and protect the interests of people best suited to make requisite corporate organs function.

To “organize” is to implement or create the tool. Organization leads to efficiency. Ask any writer how beneficial it is to have a system in place to write with clarity and economy. They have a system; we all do if we want to be seen as professionals. If that is a single-person operation, imagine organizations with twenty or more people. Organizing, then, is to structure things for a specific purpose, just like hand tools are designed to perform a single functions. Following this line of thought, every component/division/etc. in an organization is a tool. Trade unions are tools that facilitate the hiring of specialized talent whereas corporations are tools for creating the need for such people to work amongst the corporate ranks.

Suffice it to say, both unions and corporations need each other the way all bodies need organs. The closeness of this relationship, along with similarities in their structures is why so much effort has gone into distinguishing the two. This, however, is the focus of the next installment.