Giving union formation control to bosses and not workers is extremely rare in the modern industrialized world. Yet that’s how it currently works in the US and why passing the Employee Free Choice Act is so important. Matt Yglesias points out the company the US keeps with our current labor laws.

In review, of the ten countries Heritage deems to have the largest degree of economic freedom, seven feature majority sign up as an option for workers trying to form a union. Then there are two East Asian dictatorships. And then there’s the United States of America. The next ten spots on the list are composed of nine labor-friendly countries and Bahrain—a small Persian Gulf dictatorship.

The US is in the company of dictatorship by not having  majority sign-up. This is not good company to keep. I’m embarassed by it — hopefully members of Congress are too and will decide to advance modern laws that support economic freedom for American workers.