Video

Meet Julius.

Julius is an African American man living in modern-day America. Julius is a fictitious character, but the problems he faces are real problems that real people face every day. He wants the American Dream. He wants prosperity and opportunity. He wants his kids to have a better life than he did. When he retires, he wants to know that his years of hard work have meant some level of comfort in his old age.

In other words, Julius wants what all of us want.

Unfortunately, his economic hopes are continually frustrated in ways both large and small, both obvious and subtle, by a powerful force: labor unions.

In a new CEI video production, an animated film called “The Life of Julius,” we see how he is affected by the laws and regulations supported by unions at every turn of his working life.

As a young man entering the job market for the first time, for example, Julius finds the job pool artificially shrunk in part by minimum wage laws (vigorously promoted by unions for decades), laws that drive up the cost of business and kill thousands of entry-level jobs.

Later in life, as a homeowner in his 40′s, Julius is faced with the imminent prospect of sending one of his children to college. But for a whole host of reasons, labor unions have conspired to leave Julius with less take-home pay, limiting his ability to pay for his daughter’s education, as well as provide for food and vacations.

And on and on it goes, right up to and including his retirement at age 64 (I won’t spoil the end for you).

The point is this: people may not realize it, but labor unions have a stranglehold on the economy in hundreds of ways that affect every single worker, whether they are union members or, like Julius, never belong to a union in their entire life.

Julius just wants the best for him and his family, like all of us. Unfortunately, the best that Julius can do is not nearly as good as it could be, thanks in large part to the pernicious influence of labor unions.

Please come see Julius’s story at WorkplaceChoice.org, and share with your friends and family. After all — you are Julius. And so are we all.