Resources for Success: Social Movements, Strategic
Resource Allocation, and Union Organizing Outcomes
Union Membership in the U.S.
PI: Andrew W. Martin, Ohio State University (martin.1026@sociology.osu.edu)
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30
Resistance to Unionization:
-President Reagan’s firing of striking air traffic controllers
in 1981.
-Court restrictions on union tactics (time and manner of
picketing).
-Use of the strike by employers to break unions (PhelpsDodge, Caterpillar).
-Resistance to union organizing (through legal and illegal
methods) is widespread.
% of workforce
The Problem: Social movements’ capacity to mount effective challenges often hinges on the availability of scare resources.
Yet despite considerable scholarly interest in the ways that resources are mobilized, we know surprisingly little about the
conclusion of this process, how movement actors strategically disburse resources to achieve specific goals. The current
research addresses this issue through an analysis of labor union organizing in the 1990s, a period that has witnessed both
considerable opposition to unionization on the part of firms and the state, as well as the growing militancy of many labor
unions.
25
20
15
10
5
0
1900
1920
1940
1980
2000
Year
Growth of Militancy in the Labor Movement:
-Election of reformer John Sweeney to president of AFL-CIO in
1995.
-Growth of resources (human and financial) disbursed for
organizing.
-Shift from institutionalized organizing strategy (NLRB
certification election) to more militant forms of organizing.
-The “Change to Win” faction of unions has split with AFL-CIO
over perceived failures to make organizing the union’s central
priority.
The Contingency of Resources: Building upon the resource mobilization perspective, I expect that both human and financial
resources should play an important role in union organizing success. However, given the recent developments described above, it is
also important to explore how the effects of resources may be contingent upon other important dynamics of the organizing drive,
particularly the type of repertoire used by the union and the level of firm and state hostility. First, unions have two very different
options to organize private sector workers: 1) the NLRB certification election, an institutionalized, government sanctioned process
created in the 1930s, and 2) directly pressuring employers to recognize the union without an election. The latter has become
increasingly popular among militant unions, who have cited this tactic’s propensity to transform the organizing drive into a “minimovement.” Given the ability of organizers to mobilize the rank-and-file, I expect that human resources should be particularly
important when organizing outside the NLRB. Secondly, union organizing drives often face considerable resistance by both firm
and state actors. Sufficient allocation of resources for organizing may allow unions to overcome such obstacles.
1960
Union Allocation of Organizers
4 or more
10%
3
7%
2
7%
0
56%
1
20%
Effect of Organizers on Odds of Organizing Success
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20
15
NLRB Elections
Non-NLRB Organizing
10
5
0
0
Data and Methods: The analysis includes a sample of 70 local labor unions measured annually from 1990-2001. Data on
resources are drawn from the annual disclosure report these unions are required to file with the Department of Labor. The forms
(called LM reports) were coded by hand into Microsoft Access. Although the forms change slightly over the years, most of the data
is fairly standardized (quite similar to an IRS tax return); thus, more sophisticated computer assisted text-analyst software could
have been used with little loss in reliability and considerable improvements in efficiency. Data on union organizing were gathered
using government (NLRB elections) and media sources (non-NLRB organizing).
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2
3
4
5
Effect of Organizers on Odds of Non-NLRB Success by Firm Resistance
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30
25
20
Low Firm Resistance
Mean Firm Resistance
High Firm Resistance
Results: The analysis provides strong evidence that the utility of resources in union organizing efforts is closely linked to the form
they take, the repertoire used, and the level of firm/state hostility confronted. Specifically, human resources are considerably
more effective at ensuring union victories than financial resources, but only for non-NLRB organizing. Neither resource was
related to NLRB success. Additionally, while firm and state resistance did depress the effect of organizers in non-NLRB campaigns,
they still were significant, indicating that resources are an important way for unions to overcome opposition to their membership
recruitment efforts.
15
10
5
0
0
1
2
3
4
5