The Future of Union Organizing

The Future of Union Organizing
Author: Employment Labo Subcommittee on Health
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 70
Release: 2015-02-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781507862032


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This morning we will broadly examine the future of union organizing. It is no secret the number of workers electing to join a union has declined sharply in recent decades. Since 1983, the share of all workers belonging to a union has dropped from roughly 20 percent to less than 12 percent. Today, fewer than 7 percent of private sector workers are union members. There has been an unhappy story, even in this recovery, for the middle class. In the early days of this economic recovery, for every 1 dollar of growth that went to higher wages for America's workers $70 went to corporate profits. The evidence broadly suggests that when people engage in collective bargaining that those results are considerably better. On the average, members of unions earn 27 percent more than those who don't belong to a union for similar work. Members of unions are 28 percent more likely to have health care benefits provided for them at work. They are 64 percent more likely to have a pension plan when they retire. These are the elements of middle class success. AFL–CIO president, Richard Trumka, recently warned the labor movement is in crisis. Gary Chaison, an industrial relations professor at Clark University, told the New York Times unions are thrashing around looking for answers, and there is a sense that this is a make or break time for labor. Either major changes are done, or we will be too late to resuscitate the labor movement.

The Future of Labor Unions

The Future of Labor Unions
Author: Julius G. Getman
Publisher: Study of Human Resources Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2004
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:


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Unions in Crisis?

Unions in Crisis?
Author: Michael Schiavone
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2007-12-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 027599967X


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Unionism in the United States was quite successful during and after World War II, especially during the golden years of American capitalism (1947-73) as workers' wages increased quite dramatically in a number of industries. For example, average hourly earnings for workers in meatpacking rose 114% between 1950 and 1965, those in steel 102%, in rubber tires by 96%, and in manufacturing 81%. At the same time as union members' wages were increasing, union membership was declining. Yet, the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) argued that organizing new members was not a priority. By concentrating on the existing membership and bread-and-butter issues, and not organizing new members, unionism could not deal with the attack on the social contract by employers and the government beginning in the United States in the late 1970s. However, while many people are claiming that organized labor is a dinosaur, Schiavone argues that a strong union movement is needed now more than ever. Unionism in the United States was quite successful during and after World War II, especially during the golden years of American capitalism (1947-73) as workers' wages increased quite dramatically in a number of industries. For example, average hourly earnings for workers in meatpacking rose 114% between 1950 and 1965, those in steel 102%, in rubber tires by 96%, and in manufacturing 81%. At the same time as union members' wages were increasing, union membership was declining. Yet, the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) argued that organizing new members was not a priority. By concentrating on the existing membership and bread-and-butter issues, and not organizing new members, unionism could not deal with the attack on the social contract by employers and the government beginning in the United States in the late 1970s. Following that attack, there was a significant decline in U.S. workers' wages and conditions in real terms, and there was a corresponding decline in union membership. However, while many people are claiming that organized labor is a dinosaur, Schiavone argues that a strong union movement is now needed more than ever. If unions make major changes as outlined in this book, the U.S. labor movement may regain some of its strength. By fighting for workplace (such as higher wages) and non-workplace issues (such as the fight for adequate childcare or against racism), unions in America and Canada that embraced what Schiavone calls social justice unionism have improved society for all. On purely bread-and-butter issues, these unions have achieved better collective bargaining agreements than their rival mainstream unions, as well as organizing more new workers per capita. How much strength organized labor will regain by embracing social justice unionism is uncertain, but it is a beginning.

What's Next for Organized Labor?

What's Next for Organized Labor?
Author: Century Foundation Task Force on the Future of Unions
Publisher:
Total Pages: 152
Release: 1999
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:


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This book argues that labor unions have proven to be the only consistently effective mechanism for enabling workers to express their concerns and exert significant influence in the workplace, and documents the extent to which unions have benefited not only members, but the workforce as a whole.

The Future of Private Sector Unionism in the United States

The Future of Private Sector Unionism in the United States
Author: James T. Bennett
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2016-07-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1315499088


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A study of the long-term decline of the labour movement in America, exploring the outlook for labour and unions in the 21st century. There are insights from contributors from a range of backgrounds - academic and non-academic, domestic and foreign, pro- and anti-union.

The Future of Union Organizing

The Future of Union Organizing
Author: United States. Congress
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 70
Release: 2017-09-25
Genre:
ISBN: 9781977635020


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The future of union organizing : hearing before the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, first session, hearing held in Washington, DC, September 19, 2013.

The Future of Union Organizing

The Future of Union Organizing
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and the Workforce. Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
Publisher:
Total Pages: 74
Release: 2014
Genre: Corporations
ISBN:


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Rebuilding Labor

Rebuilding Labor
Author: Ruth Milkman
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2004
Genre: Fagforeninger
ISBN: 9780801489020


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In Rebuilding Labor Ruth Milkman and Kim Voss bring together established researchers and a new generation of labor scholars to assess the current state of labor organizing and its relationship to union revitalization. Throughout this collection, the focus is on the formidable challenges unions face today and on how they may be overcome.-publisher description.

Worker Activism After Successful Union Organizing

Worker Activism After Successful Union Organizing
Author: Linda Markowitz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2015-05-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317451767


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Shows how different levels of worker participation during a union organizing campaign influence the perceptions and actions of those same workers after the campaign ends, and, thereby, the long-term effectiveness and success of the organizing effort. Drawing on historical and current examples, the author analyzes the political and economic contexts within which today's unions are organizing, including a detailed examination of the impact of the Wagner Act.

Why Labor Organizing Should be a Civil Right

Why Labor Organizing Should be a Civil Right
Author: Richard D. Kahlenberg
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780870785238


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American society has grown dramatically more unequal over the past quarter century. The economic gains of American workers after World War II have slowly been eroded--in part because organized labor has gone from encompassing one-third of the private sector workers to less than one-tenth. One reason for the labor movement's collapse is the existence of weak labor laws that, for example, impose only minimal penalties on employers who illegally fire workers for trying to organize a union. Attempts to reform labor law have fallen short because labor is caught in a political box: To achieve reform, labor needs the political power that comes from expanding union membership; to grow, however, unions need labor law reform. "Labor Organizing as a Civil Right" lays out the case for a new approach, one that takes the issue beyond the confines of labor law by amending the Civil Rights Act so that it prohibits discrimination against workers trying to organize a union. The authors argue that this strategy would have two significant benefits. First, enhanced penalties under the Civil Rights Act would provide a greater deterrent against the illegal firing of employees who try to organize. Second, as a political matter, identifying the ability to form a union as a civil right frames the issue in a way that Americans can readily understand. The book explains the American labor movement's historical importance to social change, it provides data on the failure of current law to deter employer abuses, and it compares U.S. labor protections to those of most other developed nations. It also contains a detailed discussion of what amending the Civil Rights Act to protect labor organizing would mean as well as an outline of the connection between civil rights and labor movements and analysis of the politics of civil rights and labor law reform.