Sara King is a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers. Through the union, she has secured a new job to operate a truck with an end loader at the XYZ Construction Company.

About two hours into her new job, the truck began to boil because of a leaky radiator. She stopped the truck and went to look for water.

About 100 feet ahead, Sara spotted a 5 gallon pail. On the way to get the pail, she happened to pass Joe Dow, an old union man, who was tending an air compressor. Joe Dow shouted, “Where are you going?” When Sara told him, Joe Dow replied, “I’ve got news for you. You are not going to get that pail.

Understand? If you want to work on this job, you’d better start acting like a union worker, or I’ll report you to the master mechanic. You’d better get back on the truck and wait for the foreman to get a couple of laborers to help you.

Remember, if you stop your truck because of a boiling radiator and there’s no pail within 40 feet of where you happen to stop, it’s not your job to get a container.”

Sara did not want any trouble. So she went back to the truck and waited for the foreman. It was two hours before the foreman came. In the meantime, seven other dump trucks and their drivers were idle. When the foreman finally did come, Sara explained the situation to him. The foreman said, “I’ll get you a couple of laborers to draw some water.” Sara explained further that she could easily have gotten the water herself earlier, but the operator at the air compressor had told her to lay off.

The foreman answered, “That’s the way things are on this job. I don’t want any trouble, so I do what the union people want.”

Sara encountered other similar incidents as she continued on the job. The basic idea was always the same. Various craft unions decided on a lot of unreasonable restrictions that made a full day’s work unproductive. The XYZ Construction Company had entered a cost-plus contract with the client, a steel company. So the more the employees loafed on the job and raised the cost, the more money XYZ Construction Company made. The steel company client was the one bearing the costs. In the long run, the consuming public ended up paying for this labor waste, which contributed to the increasing cost of steel.

Are there any ethics involved in this problem?