Why do people think Libertarians are anti-union?

In our modern system, the government is meant to be used as a weapon against competing groups, and if you do not favor one side holding the weapon you therefore favor the other side holding that same weapon. That is the mindset of most people active in politics today. That is not the mindset of libertarians, but it is the mindset of most who are active in politics.

So therefore both employer and employee seek to use the government as a weapon against each other.

Libertarians don't believe in government in the first place, so therefore don't favor either side having that weapon to use against the other.

To unions that means that since we don't favor unions having the weapon we therefore favor businesses having the weapon. To businesses that means since we don't favor businesses having the weapon we therefore favor unions having the weapon.

We fully support the right to form a union under the right of free association. A strike is merely a refusal to conduct business with someone, something else libertarians support. Also we support the individual rights of union members, so "roughing up" people who are striking is right out as well. But since we don't support special rights above and beyond human rights and constitutional rights we are considered to oppose them when we don't.

That we would be like Frodo and throw this all-powerful weapon into Mount Doom never occurs to them. Sauron and Saruman are both convinced we are taking the ring to the other.

Weise Ente wrote about shooting people. We oppose shooting people because it is a violation of their human rights. People who think only in terms of groups and not as individuals think that when you join a group and that group is called a "union" you lose your individual identity. Libertarians still see individuals, and secondarily see the group. Shooting individuals is wrong. Therefore we don't support shooting union members, even after his rather poor interpretation of the so-called Gilded Age.

As for ZaZa, who has never given an intelligent answer, the question was about libertarians and not conservatives.

Because:

"We do believe that there should be no special laws forcing people to join a union to get a job or laws prohibiting employers from negotiating with individual union members. "

and they do have special laws and therefore are against them.

"Huh, we have no problem with employees gathering and demanding wages, they just should not get special rights."

Unions HAVE special rights, including various closed shop rules and ability to force mediation, etc. Therefore libertarians, should be against them as they exist today. Yes I'm aware that FAIR negotiations (meaning its ok to come as a group and threaten to quit) are fine with libertarians (considering I'm pretty much libertarian), but that isnt what exists currently.

"I am just wondering when people started thinking Libertarians were anti-union and not anti-government interference."

Probably since the last time we practice laissez faire economics people went in and shot up union supporters.

Not everyone is ignorant of history.

Edit: Go read about the Gilded Age and wake up to reality. Unbridled capitalism brutally squashes unions. It happened in every single known instance. What makes you think going back to that way would be any different?

Libertarians always seem to be very historically naive.

Edit:

They only succeeded because laws were put into place to protect them. Which you'd oppose. Your positions are inevitably anti-union.

The problem with unions are that they have become labor monopolies in certain fields. Consequently they over charge and under perform. If he had small competing unions that guaranteed the quality of their members, competed against other unions, etc, they would be the best thing the economy had ever seen. As it is, they are leeches who only still have jobs because we haven't bread white oompla-loompas yet.

As one of the original libertarians who actually helped the first Libertarian governor win an election,( Was apart of the campaign) I can say that we aren't for forced unionization to support a specific political cause. Otherwise known as extortion.

Many of us are opposed to unions. We also believe in the right to work stance you describe. I suppose people have a right to join a union if they wish, but a union does not have the right to run someone else's business.

Not all Libertarians are the same. Some self-proclaimed Libertarians support Obama. Figure that one out.

Why do people think that Conservatives are against private unions? THe only unions I am opposed to are public unions, where public union employees decide the compensation and benefit packages for other public union employees. See the conflict of interest?

Taxpayers do not fund private unions. Taxpayers do indeed fund public unions.

Libertarians also support more freedom for employers to do whatever they want with their business including abusing their own employees.

They hate rival cults.