Unions- Now and Then
Labor unions are legally recognized as representatives of workers in many
industries in the United States.
Activities include:
 Collective bargaining over
wages, benefits, and working
conditions.
 Representing members in
disputes with management
 Lobbying activities and
electioneering at state and
federal level
American unions remain a
prominent political factor, both
through mobilization of their own memberships and through coalitions with likeminded activist organizations around issues such as immigrant rights, trade policy,
health care, and living wage campaigns.
Cites and states make efforts to reduce pension obligations owed to unionized
workers who retire in the future. Republic Tea Party support in 2010 claimed that
unions are too powerful.
In my time we was
beaten, rotten egged, cussed,
threatened, tarred and
feathered and blackballed from
other jobs. Hurt in so many
different ways. But at our
meetings our advice to the men
and women that was hurt, we
would just say to them what the
good book says, the Lord will
not put more upon you than you
can bear, at least none of us lost
our lives like some did in the
early 30's. Thank God!... —W.M.
"Jack" Anderson, first local
president, UAW local 645
Every advance in this half-century--Social Security, civil rights,
Medicare, aid to education, one after another--came with the support and
leadership of American Labor.—Jimmy Carter
Now
Today most labor unions in the United States are members of one of two larger
umbrella organizations.
Unions continue to be actively opposed by conservative political and media figures.
In general they have shown robust growth
rates, for wages and working conditions are
set through negotiations with elected local
and state officials. The unions' political
power thus comes into play.
To join a traditional labor union,
workers must either be given voluntary
recognition from their employer or have a
majority of workers in a bargaining unit vote
for union representation.
A review conducted by the federal government on pay scale shows that
employees in a labor union earn up to 33% more income than their nonunion
counterparts, as well as having more job security, safer and higher-quality work
conditions, and additional benefits
Then
(A brief history)
Unions began forming in the mid-19th
century in response to the social and
economic impact of the industrial
revolution. National labor unions began to
form in the post-Civil War Era.
After 1960 public sector unions grew
rapidly and secured good wages and high
pensions for their members.
By the 1970s, a rapidly increasing flow of imports undercut American producers.
By the 1980s there was a large-scale shift in employment with fewer workers in
high-wage sectors and more in the low-wage sectors.
Many companies closed or moved factories to Southern states (where unions were
weak) countered the threat of a strike by threatening to close or move a plant, or
moved their factories offshore to low-wage countries.
The number of major strikes and lockouts fell by 97% from 381 in 1970 to 187 in
1980 to only 11 in 2010.
Those unions that enjoy the right to strike have no guarantee that sacrificing
their jobs and their livelihood will result in victory but they nevertheless
engage in lengthy strikes, not because they are assured of winning but
because they are determined to fight.—William Burrus, 1998
Labor Education Program
In the US, labor education programs such as the
Harvard Trade Union Program created in 1942 sought
to educate union members to deal with important
contemporary workplace and labor law issues of the
day.
During the founding era of the Harvard Trade Union
Program, it was commonly called “an experiment.” For
much of the early twentieth century, the idea that
workers would study at elite universities was mocked
and questioned.
It was initially designed to bring 15 labor leaders to
Harvard for nine months. The Plan had several
unusual features, including no formal academic
requirements such as a high school diploma.
According to a Harvard statement, the “more
important qualifications are general intelligence,
capacity for leadership, and devotion to the labor
movement.”
1941 had been a year of escalating strikes and labor unrest, and the
intensifying international crisis called attention to the need for higher productivity
via more harmonious labor-management relations.
In 1942, labor union officials and Harvard educators announced the Harvard Trade
Union Fellowship Plan as “a momentous first step in the direction of better
American labor-management relations.”
Union Structure
The Union is not a fee-for-service organization, it is a family.—Sue
Carney, APWU Director of Human Relations
Local union organizations, referred to as
"locals," are the building blocks of national
unions. Most union locals confine themselves
to a geographic area that is small enough for
all members to attend meetings in which they
elect local officers, vote on new contracts,
authorize strikes and conduct other union
business
Union locals have rules that determine the
number of local officers, as well as their
duties, terms of office and salaries, if any. In addition, the local determines
procedures for approving new labor contracts, authorizing strikes, collecting
membership dues and selecting delegates for national union conventions.
Local unions pay dues to and operate under the constitutions of the national -- and
in some cases, international -- union with which they affiliate.
National unions make laws and policies for their organizations at the national
convention. The conventions, whose
delegates are chosen from locals
across the country, choose national
union officers, including president,
vice-president and secretarytreasurer