This paper explores the evolving landscape of labor unions in the United States, addressing the changes unions must make to maintain support from members, employers, and the community. It analyzes corporate campaigns, neutrality agreements, responsible contracting, and community-based organizing as adaptive strategies. The paper also examines how politics has historically contributed to union membership decline, from the Great Depression through the post-WWII era and beyond. Additional topics include generational attitudes — particularly among Generation Y — toward union membership, a historical overview of union development from craft guilds to the AFL-CIO, and external dynamics such as immigration, globalization, and technological change that continue to reshape union strategies and structures.
In order to maintain support from their membership, the community, and employers, unions have changed the dynamics of organizing by transforming the environment and conditions under which organizing occurs. They have come to understand that when employers deploy their full arsenal of opposition tools, it becomes extremely difficult for unions to win organizing campaigns. Union strategy has often been premised on employer mistakes, which is why unions insist that laws must change. Unions are fighting hard to influence employer behavior and attitudes with regard to collective bargaining. Using corporate campaigns, they attempt to persuade companies to deal fairly and equitably with unions. Corporate campaigns involve exerting pressure on financial backers to discourage employer resistance to union organizing. This approach is primarily used during contract negotiations and has proven effective in contexts where the traditional use of strikes as an economic weapon has declined. Unions endeavor to convince employers to remain neutral, provide greater union access to employees, and establish alternative recognition procedures (Feinstein, 2005).
One strategy unions employ is bargaining to organize — seeking to expand their recognition within a corporation as more of its employees become organized. The Communication Workers of America (CWA) and Verizon agreed that Verizon would remain neutral on issues pertaining to the CWA. CWA collective bargaining also integrated non-NLRB procedures, and consensus was reached on union access for future organizing campaigns (Feinstein, 2005).
Unions also provide positive incentives to minimize employer resistance to organizing. They leverage their political clout to assist employers who agree to be union-friendly — helping employers acquire business funding, government contracts, and necessary permits, all on condition that employers observe neutrality. Political alliances have been forged between unions and developers, and community groups have been brought in to conditionally support specific projects. Developer involvement with employers is contingent on employers agreeing to community-friendly policies that include union neutrality and alternative recognition procedures. These agreements do not depend on changes in labor law and are therefore insulated from federal preemption concerns. One organization that has championed this approach is the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE). Similar organizations have pledged to provide assistance and expertise to unions and community groups in developing new strategies that capitalize on union political strength (Feinstein, 2005).
Unions have also benefited from procurement and contracting policies that favor responsible employment practices. Low-bid contracting has been replaced in some jurisdictions with contracting methods that apply clear criteria for awarding contracts — criteria based on past performance, quality, health and safety record, prior compliance with labor law, and access to a supply of well-trained workers. Several government agencies have enacted laws promoting these principles. Responsible contracting laws and procedures improve the chances of union contractors winning government contracts, making contractors less resistant to unions overall.
Unions also use trigger agreements to enhance employer neutrality and employee access. Trigger agreements encourage employers to adopt less hostile postures toward unions, particularly after a specified number of employers in an industry have signed on. A union typically organizes employers in a given market before organizing individual workplaces in order to secure employer acceptance. The trigger agreement reduces employer resistance to neutrality and access arrangements. Unions also pressure resistant employers by seeking to block government approvals of development projects, building permits, and the award of contracts or funding. Community-based campaigns have been intensified to press employers toward a neutral stance on organizing (Feinstein, 2005).
Another change unions have pursued is building broad public support. This involves making the case that unions benefit workers through collective bargaining and advocacy for social reform. Unions operate under the premise that suppressing workers' right to organize is comparable to supporting racial or workplace discrimination. By building public support, unions aim to raise the social cost of fighting unionization. Campaigns such as the Voice at Work Campaign promote the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) agenda, champion labor law reform, and increase public awareness of the obstacles workers face when organizing. When the public becomes aware of failures in existing labor law, unions are better positioned to mobilize criticism of employers who exploit legal loopholes for their own gain (Feinstein, 2005).
The union organizing environment has also been shaped by state and local legislation. Of particular significance are state and local laws that extend bargaining rights to public employees, reinvigorating unions in those sectors. Unions are promoting innovative reforms at the state, county, and municipal levels to encourage union growth where the federal preemption doctrine limits states' ability to regulate private-sector labor relations. Employees not covered by the NLRA fall under municipal card-check union laws and are beyond the reach of federal preemption. Unions have therefore focused on improving workplace conditions and strengthening worker organization to secure employee support (Feinstein, 2005).
Politics has long played a significant role in the fortunes of labor unions. The non-union industrial relations system of the 1920s nearly collapsed when the Great Depression of the 1930s exposed its weaknesses. Political support for unions dwindled as real national income fell, nonagricultural employment contracted, and unemployment rose sharply. Welfare capitalists did little to stem unemployment or maintain wages, and they lost the independent support of organizable workers. Union membership dropped during the Depression era, with unemployed members leaving the rolls and employers — emboldened by their stronger bargaining position — thwarting union organizing drives. However, during President Roosevelt's tenure, union membership rebounded significantly because his administration was openly pro-union.
When the Knights of Labor (KOL) engaged in a national general strike to pressure employers into adopting an eight-hour workday, they nearly collapsed. The strike coincided with the bombing of Haymarket Square in Chicago, which provoked a widespread "red scare." As a result of this politicization, KOL membership dropped to half a million by 1887. The union faced harassment from the Chicago police, who broke up meetings, seized union records, and restricted recruitment. Despite KOL's support of the Populist Party in 1890, its membership continued to decline, falling below 50,000 by 1897 (Blewett, 1988).
After the Second World War, it became clear that the United States had one of the weakest labor movements among advanced capitalist democracies. Over eight million workers went on strike between 1945 and 1946, yet this had little lasting impact on labor's political position or bargaining power. The CIO's failure to organize the South was attributed in part to politics: anti-union forces mobilized, engaged in private repressions, and exploited racial divisions. The South became a bastion of anti-union politics, where workers were subjected to low pay and weak labor protections (Whatley, 1993).
Legislation has also played a critical role. When the Republican Congress amended the Wagner Act and enacted the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, employers and state officials received new powers against strikers and unions. Union leaders were required to sign a non-Communist affidavit to participate in NLRB-sponsored elections. This divided labor at a vulnerable moment. In an attempt to appease the political right, the CIO expelled ten Communist-led unions representing nearly a third of its membership. CIO membership declined, and the organization lost dynamic leaders and organizers. It was eventually consumed by an internal civil war between non-Communist affiliates and Communist-led unions, causing it to lose credibility and organizational focus. It subsequently merged with the AFL to form the AFL-CIO (Whatley, 1993).
"Generation Y largely disengaged from union participation"
"From craft guilds to AFL-CIO across U.S. history"
"Immigration and globalization reshape union structure and strategy"
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