Times are rough for working people right now. they face decreased job security and a lower standard of living. Employees increasingly rely on a low-wage part-time and sub contracted labor. Transitional corporations like Nike and Disney lobby politicians for more pro-business, anti-worker trade agreements and move their plants abroad in search of fewer government restrictions and cheaper workers. Meanwhile, Americas super-rich exacutives just keep getting richer all the time at the expense of every one else.
One Way Out of the growing imbalance of wealth and power between those who run the
companies and the people who work for them is to revitalize the labor movement. Since
the election of John Sweeney as president of the AFL-CIO in 1995, unions have stepped up
their efforts to publicly fight for American workers. The labor movement has put more energy
into organizing a variety of workers, education its members about the economy and politics,
and injecting workers' voices into national debates. for the first time in a long time, people are talking about the the labor movement. But, many people still have questions about the role of unions in public life. here are some answers . . .
Why do workers need unions?
Most people have no control over what happens at the workplace. The boss decides their hours, benefits, and wages. They have nowhere to go if they have a complaint about their employer's decisions. And there is little they can do if they are fired unjustly. Eventhough everyone has an equal vote in political decisions about how their communitiy, city, state, and country are run, the boss rules all in the workplace. All this changes, though, when workers join a union.
Unions give workers a voice in the workplace. Union members vote on contracts which cover
their wages and benefits and set up procedures for handling grievances about working conditions. Unionization really pays off, too - they recieve 35% higher pay than non-union counterparts. They also have more and better pensions, health care, and other benefits. Women and minority workers, who generally recieve the lowest wages, benefit even more from being in a union. Unionized women have a 37% pay advantage over non-union women. For black workers the edge is 45% and for Hispanic workers it's 60%.
If unions are so good, why haven't I heard more about them?
Unions have suffered a serious decline since the 1970s. Although there are many causes that
contributed to the labore movements decline, the greatest factor was a change in the American economy. Traditionally, the most heavily unionized workforce were in core industries like steel and auto. However, those industries have shrunk in recent years as foreign competition has increased and the service sector has expanded -- meaning that unions have lost members. Because until recently the labor movement was slow to organize the growing numbers of service workers (who are more often women and people of color), the labor movement lost much of its strenght.
The political climate has hurt the movement as well. A string of conservative presidents,
especially Reagan and Bush in the 1980s, started a trend toward deregulation, privatization,
and pro-business "free trade" agreements, giving employers more leverage against unions.
Court decisions about labor law have also tipped the balance in favor of the bosses, giving
them more power to thwart unionization drives and penalizing them little when they break
labor laws. As American politics has shifted to the right in the 1980s and 1990s, unions
have become increasingly marginalized in public debates and in the workplace.
Aren't there laws in America that protect workers?
What more can a union do?
Actually, most of the labor laws that protect workers were instituted because unions pressured the government to enact them. Unions have been busy fighting throughout US history for workers' rights both on the shop floor and in the government.
Howerer there are still many problems with labor laws today. Usually they either go unenforced or do not carry heavy enough penalities to stop employers from abusing their workers. The use of sweatshop labor inside the US to make Guess jeans and clothes for Kathie Lee Gifford and Wal-mart has been widely reported - obviously labor law did not deter these companies from exploiting workers.The government agency that investigates and adjudicates the many unfair labor pratices reported by employers and employees (called the National Labor relations Board) is so backed up with cases of workers who were illegally fired for simply being union supporters that it often takes years to reinstate wronged workers. In addition, most companies are willing to break federal law by commiting unfair labor pratices because the fines they pay as punishment are cheaper than the costs of having a unionized workforce that demands better wages and benefits.
The other big flaw in US labor law is that some laws actually hurt rather than help workers.
So called "right to work" laws require unions in some states to represent workers who don't even pay union dues. Also, the rules which govern union elections make it easy for employers to intimidate workers. Bosses use of the law's bureaucratic delays to gain more time to threaten workers. Employers leagally intimidate employees by predicting the plant will close or move away if the workers vote in a union during work hours. In workplaces where a union already exists, employers can undermine a union's strength by legally hireing replacement workers (scabs) if the union goes on strike.
But isn't it true that unions are bad for the economy?
Many executives and right-wing politicians claim that unions are bad for the American economy because corporations will not be able to remain competitive if they pay their workers more and give them more benefits. However, many economists strongly disagree with this analysis. They argue that it's not unions that are bad for the economy - it's inequality. While paying workers more might decrease profits initially, in the end it gives workers (who are also always consumers) more spending money with which to purchase more goods.
Economist David Gordon describes even more compelling benefits of unions. Gordon cites
Germany, Japan, and Sweden as economically competitive countries in which workers recieve
better pay and have more control over their work, making them less alienated from their
jobs and voluntarily more productive. In contrast, in the US, where most workers are not
in unions and are recieving declining pay, corporations hire more managers and supervisors
to make sure employees do their jobs and to handle employees' complaints. By 1989, US
companies had more than three times as many managers and supervisors as those in Japan
and Germany, and four times as many as in Sweden. In short, increasing unionization and
raising the pay of workers would eliminate the need for ridiculously large, expensive
bureaucracies in US corporations. It would also free up many workers to take on productive
jobs that creat more goods and expand the economy. As it turn out, unions can actually
increase efficiency and productivity.
Haven't unions been notorious in the past for their
racism, sexism, and corruption?
Unfortunately, the US has a history filled with racist, sexist, and corrupt institutions - and unions, like banks, churches, and even the government, sometimes fit these descriptions. On the whole, however, unions do not have a worse record on these counts than most. While the early labor movement was often overtly sexist, racist, and nativist in its efforts to protect the jobs of skilled craftsmen, the movement has grown and changed over the years to include workers of all backgrounds. In fact, today white men make up just half of union members, and the race and gender demographic of union menbership generally reflect that of the workforce overall.
Historically, the labor movement has also been crucial to many movements for social justice,
especially the civil rights movement. Unionn struggles for fair treatment of black workers were explicity linked to the larger civil rights movement of the late 1950s and 1960s. For example, the all-black Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, led by the great unionist and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph, joined the American Federation of Labor in 1935. When the Brotherhood signed a contract with the Pullman Sleeping Car Company in 1937, it was the first time an American company was forced to recognize a black union and grant black workers their rights. Randolph, working with both labor leaders and prominent black organizations like the NAACP and the National Urban League, won and end to racially discrinimatory hiring in the defense industries and a stop to segregation in the armed forces by planning a march on Washington, DC, and organizing draft resistance in the 1940s and 50s. Few people realized that the famous 1963 march on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, led by Martin Luther King, Jr.was convened by Randolph and came directly out of the struggles he and the labor movement had been fighting for over 35 years. Similar battles have and are taking place every day to gain equality for African Americans, Latinos, Asians, women, and gays and lesbians. For instance, the current AFL-CIO has started a working women's department and supported Pride at Work Day.
Just as union workers have fought racism and sexism both inside and outside of their unions,
they have also fought corruption. Today more than ever, union members and leaders are advancing fair, democratically run unions and cleaning up the corrupt ones. It is also important to remenber that even the most corrupt unions are still far more democratic than most corporations. In a union, members can vote on contracts, but in corporations, the top executives control verything thad the company does.
Why are socialists interested in the labor movement?
Socialists see the labor movement as one of the cornerstones in the struggle for economic and social justice. in general, work places are more diverse than any other institutions in American life. By organizing the workplace, a union brings together many different people for their common interests on the job, and thereby involver workers in a political movement unlike any other. Unions also have a long history of successful grassroots organizing, along with an already established structural stability, that other movements have failed to replicate. On the other hand, though socialists know that the labor movement cannot bring about social and economic justice alone - it needs other movements as well. Labor's power is inherently limited because it must do a great deal of daily work bargaining for and winning gains for member to sustain itself. Other movements are necessary to push for broader goals. Idaelly, coalitions between labor movements and other progressive movements are more powerful than any of these movements alone.
Despite its limitations, the labor movement still has many aspects that excite socialists. Unions are a democratic intervention in the capitalist economy by promoting democracy in the workplace itself. In the US, the labor movement also involves people directly in a democratic institution a movement in a country where democracy is usually limited to electorial politics. In addition to iving people a rare bit of control over their jobs, unions also provide a great forum for people to learn about and discuss politics and economics. Although young people often think of union members as white, male blue collar workers who are politically very conservative, that is a missconception. Union members are overwhelming progressive on most economic and political issues, especially when compared to their nonunion counterparts.
What is DSA's relationship with the labor movement?
DSA have members at all leveld of the movement - from rank-and-file union members, to low and mid-level union staff workers, to laboe organizers, to leaders like DSA's Co-chair Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers and current AFL-CIO president John Sweeny. DSA members have fought alongside the labor movement by working extensivly on living wage campaigns and local union struggles. At the same time, DSA continously works on the national level with the Congressional Progresive Caucus on bills that support workers. The Youth Section has been particularly active in support of on-campus unions, and many chapters have educated and organized their peers on issues important to workers, such as workfare and sweatshops.Youth Section members have done direct actions against Guess sweatshops, helped organized abor teach-ins, planned conferences on NAFTA, and creativly intervened on behalf of unions on campus.
How can students get involved?
In addition to the fact that students either will be or already are the next generation
of workers and union members, their support and involvement as students is crucial to the
labor movement. For starters, student activist can educate their peers and communities,
work with unions on their campuses, learn about union organizing as intern in the AFL- CIO's Union Summer or at individule unions, and participate in nation union campaigns like the UFW's strawberry workers campaign or UNITE's Student Stop Sweatshops project. Some students who are dedicated to the labor movement enroll in the AFL-CIO's Organizing
Institute after they graduate and become full-time union organizers. Furthermore, many
low-level union staff positions are filled by students or recent graduates.
DSA Youth Section members have found plenty of ways to get involved. They've done
everything from organizing students in suppoet of NYU clerical workers fighting for a
better contract, to going to store to stick anti-sweatshop flyers in the pockets of
Guess jeans, to participating in labor teach-ins at Columbia University,
Brown University, SUNY-Greneseo, and others.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?
Try looking at:
David Gordin's "Underpaied Workers, Bloated Corporations:
Two Pieces in the puzzle of US Economic Decline" in Dissent, Spring 1996
Richard Freeman and James Medoff'd What Do Unions Do?
Patri9cia Cayo Sexton's The War on Labor and the Left
