http://www.prca.org/current/Articles/Labor_Union_Membership_by_DJE.htm

"Calling of the Christian Workingman

"In light of the biblical testimony, the Christian workingman, every
Christian workingman, must refuse membership in the union, or, if
presently a member, must get out. He must do this willingly, in
obedience to the Word, out of respect for the authority of God,
as an act of discipleship after Jesus Christ, in gratitude for
gracious salvation, and as he values his eternal salvation.

"In carrying out this holy calling, the Christian workingman must be
willing to suffer loss.

"Servants [men working for wages], be subject to your masters with all
fear;
not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is
thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering
wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults,
ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it,
ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were
ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that
ye should follow his steps (I Pet. 2:18-21).

"Against the testimony of Scripture, which is clear and compelling, there
are
two arguments in favor of a Christian's joining a labor union. These
arguments are powerful. Both of these arguments come down to this: 'If
I do not join the union, I will suffer.'

"One argument is that the owner, the employer, the boss, management,
the capitalist is a greedy, cruel, blood-sucking monster. Without unions,
workers have suffered, and will suffer.

"The other argument is the visceral one: 'I have to eat.' If a man is
unwilling to join a union, work is denied him, and then he and his family
starve to death.

"The Bible refutes both these arguments.

"As regards the first, concerning the unjust employer, there are indeed
wicked employers, who take advantage of the worker. Their only concern
is profits for themselves. Workers are merely disposable means to that
end.
Scripture recognizes such employers and damns them: 'Go to now, ye rich
men,
weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you' (James 5:1).
These
were the farmers for whom the Christian laborers of James 5 were working.
These farmers kept back the hire of the laborers, thus killing the
righteous
workingmen. 'The hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields,
which
is of you kept back by fraud, crieth . . . Ye have condemned and killed
the
just' (James 5:4, 6).

"This injustice and cruelty, however, do not warrant resistance on the
part of
the workers--a general strike. Rather, the laborer 'doth not resist you'
(James 5:6). Radically different is the activity to which the gospel of
Christ calls the defrauded workingman: 'Be patient, therefore, brethren,
unto the coming of the Lord' (James 5:7). Christ the judge will punish the
greedy capitalist who has defrauded his workers. Such a businessman 'has
heaped treasure together for the last days' (James 5:3). The millions he
gave to charity in his old age, to soothe his conscience and get a name
for
himself, will not mitigate his punishment in the least. Christ will also
reward the suffering, patient workingman. 'The end of the Lord (is) that
the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy' (James 5:11).

"As regards the second argument, namely, that we must eat, the biblical
refutation is exactly that we do not have to eat. Eating is not the
'bottom line' in the life of Christians. For the Christian, what is
absolutely necessary--that to which all in life must give way--is
obeying God. When eating conflicts with obeying, as it often has in
history,
eating is given up.

"Karl Marx and his disciples in the labor union movement are wrong in
their teaching that the material is everything.

"The man who makes eating the main thing in human life, to which all else,
even the Word of God, must give way is an idolater. His god is his belly.
Some god!

"Whoever takes the position, 'I must eat,' will, on this basis, soon also
take the mark of the beast, for without that mark in the kingdom of
Antichrist
one will not be permitted to buy or sell (Rev. 13:17). Whoever takes the
mark
will be permitted to eat. He will also drink. He will 'drink of the wine
of
the wrath of God' forever (Rev. 14:9-11).

Source: "Labor Union Membership in the Light of Scripture",By Prof. David
J.
Engelsma--Professor of Dogmatics in the Protestant Reformed Seminary
Published by:
Peace Protestant Reformed Church
18423 Stony Island Ave. | Lansing, IL 60438
(PRC web page - http://www.prca.org)

--
.
'Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution.'
2 Timothy 3:12