300 words for each question, due Monday
elinaa
Chapter6UnionStrategiesFall2021.pdf
Chapter 6 Union Strategies and Structures for Representing Workers
1
What Workers Want
A. Polls have suggested that a majority of workers would like a union. B. But workers also worry that IF they voted for a union, their
employer would retaliate by 1. Creating a hostile work environment 2. Reducing employment, or 3. Even shutting down the establishment
C. As a result, unions have a hard time convincing workers to set in motion elections for a union
2
What Unions Need To Do
A. Reverse long-run decline in union membership. This has turned out to be very difficult.
B. Rebuild bargaining power to achieve benefits for members. This has caused many unions to rethink what and how they do things. Slow progress on this.
3
Immediate Causes of Decline of Membership
A. Decline of industries that were once highly unionized, such as auto and steel industries 1. Loss of union members with decline of these industries 2. Also important: loss of public attention to these once high-profile unions
that once set the standards elsewhere in the economy. These unions were once major “players” in national politics and public consciousness
B. Shift of the economy to services, which seem to have lower potential for unionization.
C. Apparent maxing out of union membership in the public sector D. Inadequate rate organizing new workplaces
4
Long-term Decline: Union membership as a percentage of the nonagricultural labor force, 1930-2015
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Chart1
| 1930 |
| 1935 |
| 1940 |
| 1945 |
| 1950 |
| 1955 |
| 1960 |
| 1965 |
| 1970 |
| 1975 |
| 1980 |
| 1985 |
| 1990 |
| 1995 |
| 2000 |
| 2005 |
| 2010 |
| 2015 |
Sheet1
| Column1 | Year |
| 1930 | 11.6% |
| 1935 | 13.2% |
| 1940 | 26.9% |
| 1945 | 35.5% |
| 1950 | 31.5% |
| 1955 | 33.2% |
| 1960 | 31.4% |
| 1965 | 28.4% |
| 1970 | 27.3% |
| 1975 | 25.5% |
| 1980 | 21.9% |
| 1985 | 18.0% |
| 1990 | 16.1% |
| 1995 | 14.9% |
| 2000 | 13.5% |
| 2005 | 12.5% |
| 2010 | 11.9% |
| 2015 | 11.1% |
6
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2,000,000
4,000,000
6,000,000
8,000,000
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12,000,000
14,000,000
16,000,000
18,000,000
20,000,000
19 83
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Union Membership, 1983-2020
BLS, Historical Data for the Tables of the Union Membership News Release
Decline Manufacturing; Rise Government; Stability Services
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8
https://lbo-news.com/2021/01/22/pandemic-boosts-union-density/
Shifts: Private Sector Manufacturing to Public Sector Services
9
Rise of public sector unions.
Decline in once- strong UAW and USW.
Rise of SEIU, but service sector still has low rates of unionization.
Drop in Union Elections
10
https://ericdirnbach.medium.com/decline-and-fall-union-election-trends-and-the-failing- nlrb-strategy-1e2263f3f59b
11https://unionelections.org/data/national/ Private Sector only. Most state/local government employees not under NLRB.
Union elections continue to fall.
Excluding public employees, in the last year there have been 975 union elections filed in the United States and 912 union elections held. In 583 of those elections a new unit was certified. This is 64% success rate for unions.
Union Federations
A. Most, but not all, national unions are part of federations B. The primary roles of union federations are to
1. Increase the chance member unions coordinate their activities 2. Address potential conflicts between member unions 3. Be a political actor with greater power than the individual members of the
federation
C. Federations, however, have no formal authority over the activities of its member national unions.
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Union Federations (cont)
D. Two major federations: AFL-CIO and Change to Win (CtW) 1. The AFL-CIO is the largest labor federation with 57 union affiliates
representing approximately 12.5 million workers. 2. Change to Win was created in 2006 when several unions broke with the
AFL-CIO. Today, SEIU, the Teamsters, the United Farmworkers, and the Communication Workers of America (CWA) are part of the Change to Win Federation, representing approximately 3 million workers. CWA is also part of the AFL-CIO.
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Union Federations (cont)
E. The main differences between the AFL-CIO and CtW 1. AFL-CIO: highly structured entity with large permanent staff performing
many political, research, and public relations activities. 2. Change to Win: loose confederation of unions with a small staff. Its focus is
almost entirely on organizing workers in attempt to reverse decline in union membership. Attempts greater coordination of organizing campaigns and to identify industries and regions that it would be beneficial to organize.
14
Websites
A. AFL-CIO: https://aflcio.org/ B. Change to Win: http://www.changetowin.org/
15
National/International Unions
A. Examples: See Table 6.3 above B. National/International unions are the “head office” of a large
number of “union locals.” C. Often located in bigger cities. Some larger national unions also have
regional offices serving locals in particular geographical areas. D. Sample websites:
1. https://www.goiam.org/ 2. https://www.seiu.org/
16
National/International Unions (cont)
E. National/Internationals have a staff that 1. Helps locals in negotiations and grievance administration 2. Engages in organizing 3. Generate research relevant to the union and workers 4. Engages in political activities/lobbying 5. Oversees and manages any pension fund, healthcare insurance fund, or
other financial benefit the union provides to its members.
17
Union Locals (aka local union, aka local)
A. A union local is an entity that serves the workers in a particular “bargaining unit.” 1. A bargaining unit is a set of workers who have a common interest as regards
the employer 2. A bargaining unit might involve
a. all workers at a single workplace or only some workers at a workplace. i. Sometimes different workers at a single workplace might be part of different unions.
Example: at CSUSB multiple unions represent different types of employees (for instance, instructors vs staff)
b. Or it might involve workers at multiple workplaces (but within a single firm). c. Or it might involve workers at multiple workplaces involving multiple employers.
.
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B. Sample websites of locals: a. https://www.seiu721.org/ b. https://uawlocal31.org/
.
19
Union Locals (aka local union, aka local)
C. Typically, a union local has its own contract with the employer. D. A local is often part of a national union although some are
independent. For instance, the California Faculty Association services a bargaining unit comprising faculty throughout the CSU, but it is independent of any national union.
E. A single national union can have hundreds of union locals. For instance, the Union of Auto Workers (UAW) has over 600 locals.
20
Union Locals (aka local union, aka local)
F. A local has its own bylaws and elects its own officers. G. It is the local that union members interact with. Workers can attend
union meetings, vote for local union officers, vote in elections about whether to strike, and vote to approve/disapprove contracts.
H. The local negotiates with the employer, but it might get help from the national union.
I. Locals are also involved in grievances, which are claims that management violated some part of the contract. They also manage strikes, when they occur.
21
Unions and Politics
A. U.S. labor unions have traditionally focused mostly on collective bargaining and organizing new workers. This is consistent with the concept of “business unionism.”
B. They have put much less effort into political action. And, when they have engaged in political action, unions and union leaders have rarely articulated a wider political ideology. Instead, they merely seek what is in the best interests of their members.
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Notable Political Activism by Unions
A. But, occasionally US unions have been ardent and successful supporters of federal legislation to protect and improve employment conditions, including: 1. Social Security, Medicare, Aid to Families with Dependent Children 2. The minimum wage 3. Creation of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 4. The Davis-Bacon Act, concerned with pay provided to workers of federal
construction contractors 5. The Family and Medical Leave Act 6. Laws governing pensions
23
Recent Changes in Union Activities
A. Both AFL-CIO and CtW are concerned with increasing union membership and have put more resources into organizing. CtW was formed primarily to promote organizing. 1. Unions have also trained and hired younger and better-educated organizers,
believing such organizers will have greater success than those organizing before.
B. Further, many unions are breaking out of their traditional “business unionism.” They are expanding their political activities in ways they hope will lead to enhanced bargaining power and higher membership.
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Recent Changes in Union Activities
C. For instance, several unions have formed alliances (at both the national and local level) with non-union progressive entities. They have joined with others in, for instance, immigration reform and fights for a “living wage” in many communities. 1. Achieving results will benefit (some) union members and also non-union
members. This will increase the likelihood that other people (and other non-union political entities) become supporters of unions.
2. Ultimate goals are to enhance the power of unions in negotiations with employers and to become important progressive force elsewhere.
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Recent Changes in Union Activities (cont)
D. As another (minor) example of unions trying to behave in different ways: many unions have started to provide benefits to their members beyond what is provided in contracts in order to increase the attractiveness of union membership. 1. https://aflcio.org/union-plus-benefits 2. https://teamsters2010.org/2019/08/07/3248/ 3. https://www.goiam.org/departments/headquarters/retirees-employee-
assistance-programs/employee-assistance-program/
26
- Chapter 6
- What Workers Want
- What Unions Need To Do
- Immediate Causes of Decline of Membership
- Long-term Decline: Union membership as a percentage of the nonagricultural labor force, 1930-2015
- Slide Number 6
- Decline Manufacturing; Rise Government; Stability Services
- Slide Number 8
- Slide Number 9
- Drop in Union Elections
- Slide Number 11
- Union Federations
- Union Federations (cont)
- Union Federations (cont)
- Websites
- National/International Unions
- National/International Unions (cont)
- Union Locals (aka local union, aka local)
- Slide Number 19
- Union Locals (aka local union, aka local)
- Union Locals (aka local union, aka local)
- Unions and Politics
- Notable Political Activism by Unions
- Recent Changes in Union Activities
- Recent Changes in Union Activities
- Recent Changes in Union Activities (cont)
