First disclosure: I have belonged to a labor union, The Newspaper Guild, since 1970, served one term as president of the Knoxville local and have helped negotiate several contracts on behalf of the reporters, copy editors, photographers and other members of our editorial staff.

Second disclosure: I'm not the first newspapering Venable to do so. My paternal grandfather, Artemus N. Venable Sr., who died 10 years before I was born, was a Linotype operator for the old Knoxville Journal and longtime secretary-treasurer of the International Typographical Union's local.

Thus, it's not surprising that I'm bothered by efforts, here and elsewhere, to eliminate the collective bargaining rights of certain workers.

In Tennessee, the majority of Republicans and all of the tea party ilk are rallying forces to prohibit collective bargaining by teachers and weaken the Tennessee Education Association. In Wisconsin, the fight is against all public employees. The turmoil has grown so bitter, Democrats have left the Capitol in protest.

Tennessee teachers today; Wisconsin public employees tomorrow. If those fall, you can bet your last paycheck more organized workers, public and private, will be targeted next.

There's not enough room in a month's worth of newspapers to debate the history of the American labor movement and the pros and cons of organization. If you're still reading this far down, I'll guarantee your mind is already made up. You're either "fer" unions or "agin" them.

And without question, you can find examples to bolster either argument. When it comes to management-versus-labor through the years, there's plenty of blame to go around.

There has been greed on both sides. There has been abuse of power on both sides. There has been bad behavior on both sides. There has been exploitation, half-truth and outright falsehood.

I reiterate: on both sides.

Some would argue that the need for organized labor in a high-tech world is as outdated as Morse code, that long-held practices like the 40-hour week and workplace safety are here to stay.

Perhaps. But they also can evaporate in the blink of an eye.

It's astonishing to me that corporations are encouraged to unite in trade groups and associations - but then expect their employees to remain independent of joint representation. In my way of thinking, this transcends the standard issues of pay, benefits, vacation, health care and working conditions. Those are important, yes, but they don't hold a flame to a broader truth that can be summarized in six words:

Organized workers have a real voice.

Spare me the CEO screed about modern in-house employee-employer relations committees, modern in-house grievance procedures and other modern in-house methods to resolve conflict. As long as everything stays in-house, you can bet it'll follow the same pattern as those old Soviet elections.

Heads we win, tails you lose.

Neither side, in Tennessee or Wisconsin, is 100 percent right or 100 percent wrong. There is room for agreement if both parties bargain in good faith.

Otherwise, the baby most assuredly will be thrown out with the bath water.