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Some leftists argue that police are essentially an extension of state power, and so not labor in the traditional sense. To have a Union that protects state powe

Some leftists argue that police are essentially an extension of state power, and so not labor in the traditional sense. To have a Union that protects state power only serves to doubly oppress the people state power is used against. These people then argue that police unions are a corruption of the idea of unions, and should not exist. Laborers should have Union protection, but not the state. I should say I’m not too well versed in this argument, so this is my vague recollection of its high level points.

paws 4y ago
Hadn't seen this argument before but it resonates, thanks. If you have any links to share I'd be curious to read more.
- TaylorAlexander 4y ago
  Great! I just did a search and came up with a few links. Hope you find them helpful! https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-to-know-police-unions-labor-movement https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-to-know-police-unions-l... https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-trouble-with-police-unions https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-trou... https://theconversation.com/why-police-unions-are-not-part-of-the-american-labor-movement-142538 https://theconversation.com/why-police-unions-are-not-part-o...
petesergeant 4y ago
UK has a statutory police union -- that is, the government set up its own union for them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Federation_of_England_and_Wales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Federation_of_England_a... Interesting quote from there: "Police officers hold office and are not employees. Each officer is an independent legal official and not an "agent of the police force, police authority or government". This allows the police their unique status and notionally provides the citizens of the UK a protection from any government that might wish unlawfully to use the police as an instrument against them."
mrguyorama 4y ago
I think police should have the ability to collectively negotiate important things like dangerous on the job conditions or poor scheduling or bad pay. Maybe that's not a union but being a police officer shouldn't doom you to unsafe working conditions that you can't fight back against because individuals have no power against a system like that.

paws 4y ago

Hadn't seen this argument before but it resonates, thanks. If you have any links to share I'd be curious to read more.

TaylorAlexander 4y ago
Great! I just did a search and came up with a few links. Hope you find them helpful! https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-to-know-police-unions-labor-movement https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-to-know-police-unions-l... https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-trouble-with-police-unions https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-trou... https://theconversation.com/why-police-unions-are-not-part-of-the-american-labor-movement-142538 https://theconversation.com/why-police-unions-are-not-part-o...

petesergeant 4y ago

UK has a statutory police union -- that is, the government set up its own union for them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Federation_of_England_and_Wales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Federation_of_England_a... Interesting quote from there: "Police officers hold office and are not employees. Each officer is an independent legal official and not an "agent of the police force, police authority or government". This allows the police their unique status and notionally provides the citizens of the UK a protection from any government that might wish unlawfully to use the police as an instrument against them."

mrguyorama 4y ago

I think police should have the ability to collectively negotiate important things like dangerous on the job conditions or poor scheduling or bad pay. Maybe that's not a union but being a police officer shouldn't doom you to unsafe working conditions that you can't fight back against because individuals have no power against a system like that.