> I don't know what you mean by "free rider problem" > I'm perfectly happy with that "power imbalance", whatever that means. > It sounds like the union needs

> I don't know what you mean by "free rider problem" > I'm perfectly happy with that "power imbalance", whatever that means. > It sounds like the union needs special legally granted monopoly powers to sell me services I don't actually want. The term for that is "rent seeking", actually. You may want to do some reading on the topic, it seems, if it's interesting to you. You appear to have picked up some ideas and vocabulary, but missed a lot of others. Should be able to find political-economy or labor relations focused econ textbooks that cover this stuff without difficulty, and probably in some cheap older-revision copy that'll be fine for the purpose. A few minutes looking at 200ish-level poli-sci and econ class syllabi should give you a good idea of what kinds of materials you'd want to hunt down, and I'm guessing a skim over a broad selection of that stuff would be helpful. (EDIT) to give a nutshell description of the power imbalance: it is far more harmful, in the general case, to the individual than to the company when a, say, 500+ person company rejects them as a candidate or fires them, which means they have vastly less leverage in any sort of negotiation, official or otherwise, which may occur.