The primary intent of this paper is to provide an ideological critique of one instance of "union talk," which the paper takes to be representative of organized labor discourse at large. To reach this goal, the question of the need for and value of unions is specifically addressed in the paper, and a review of the studies existing within the communication field that specifically address union communicative behavior is provided. The paper then presents an overview of the two general arguments offered as explanations of the current decline of union membership and of union bargaining power and suggests implications which invite future research. The paper concludes with an ideological critique of a formal speech which represents the contemporary argument among many labor activists that the traditional model of "servicing unionism" needs to be changed to a model of "organizing unionism." (Contains 46 references.) (Author/RS)