Marx on Unions
But with the development of industry the proletariat not only increases in
number; it becomes concentrated in greater masses, its strength grows,
and it feels that strength more...Collisions between individual workmen
and individual bourgeois take more and more the character of collisions
between two classes. Thereupon the workers begin to form
combinations (trade unions) against the bourgeois; they club together in
order to keep up the rate of wages. They found permanent associations
to order to make provision before hand for these occasional revolts....
Here and there the workers are victorious, but only for a time.
The real fruit of their battles lies not in the result but in the ever
expanding union of the workers.
Knights of Labor
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Knights of Labor
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Formed as a semi-secret society in 1869. Did not admit
“unproductive” bankers, lawyers, doctors, stockholders,
gamblers, liquor dealers
Became a public organization in 1879, more directly involved in
union activities
Admitted women (Mother Jones), blacks and unskilled labor
Over 1 million members by 1886, wins several successful railroad
strikes
Decline: Haymarket Riot, Failed strikes after Pinkerton and
militia repression, AFL woos away skilled workers
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International Workers of the World
IWW (Wobblies)
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Founded in 1905, organized textile workers, migrant farmworkers, lumber
workers,
Industrial unionism, faith in the rank and file rather than leadership
Free speech campaigns
The general Strike
Crippling Repression, especially after their opposition to WWI and during
the red scare that followed
From the IWW Charter
The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There
can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the
working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the
good things of life. Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the
workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of
production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the Earth. ...
Instead of the conservative motto, 'A fair day's wage for a fair day's work', we
must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, 'Abolition of the
wage system.' It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with
capitalism.[4]
American Federation of Labor
(AFL)
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Founded in 1886
Samuel Gompers 1886-94, 1895-1924
Craft Unionism, skilled workers
Conservative “unionism plain and simple”
Works for the best deal for workers within the system
No support for a labor (or other) parties
Instead..
"reward your friends and punish your enemies"
American Exceptionalism
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1. Working Class Divisions: Immigration, Race
2. “Liberal” Culture
3. Early Extension of Voting Rights
4. No Feudalism
5. Employer/State Resistance
**Radicals crushed: Knights of Labor /IWW
U.S Union Membership as % of the Workforce
40
35
30
25
20
%union
15
10
5
0
30 40 50 60 70 80 90
0
Union Membership (in millions)
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1930 1945 1960 1975 1990 2005
Members
Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO) 1935-1955
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Industrial vs. Craft Unionism
Significantly more militant than the CIO, with a
large left (including communist) presence
Sit Down strikes
Major victories: auto, steel, rubber,
longshoremen
The Wagner Act (1935)
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1. Explicitly guaranteed the right to join a union
2. Required employers to bargain with recognized
unions
3. Allowed a majority vote of employees to empower a
union to negotiate for all employees
4. Created the National Labor Relations Board to
enforce these rules and to supervise elections.
The Taft-Hartley Act (1948)
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1. Allows the president to order a 60 day cooling off period
before a strike.
2. Allows right to work laws
3. Bans the Closed Shop (Only union members hired)
4. Bans secondary strikes and sympathy boycotts..
5. Allows for court injunctions against mass picketing
6. Holds national unions liable for the actions of their members
(such as wildcat strikes breaking a contract)
7. McCarthyism-hits union radicals hard (many of whom are, in
fact, communists.) Particularly aimed at radicals in the CIO.
Voss and Fantasia
“Relational Analysis”
Symbolic:
Material Conditions:
The Place of Unions in the
Public Imagination
The System of Rules Governing
Unions
“Special Interest” or
“Social Justice”
Consumer or Worker
The Balance of Power between
Workers and Employers
Type of Person:
Bureaucrat, Strongman, Militant
Business/Push Button Unionism
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Material
 Negotiation and Enforcement of Long-Term Contracts
 Grievance resolution based on legalistic contract language
 Focus on servicing existing union membership
-- Cooperative relationship with employers
-- Distance from the Rank and File
-- Antiradicalism
Type of Person:
Bureaucrat or Strongman
Symbolic
Unions as “special interests”
Labor and the Cold War
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Funded by USIA USAID
American Institute for Free labor Development in Latin America
(AIFLD), Asia-American Free Labor Institute
African American Labor Center.
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1983 National Endowment for Democracy
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Labor, Business, Republican and Democratic Parties
In the 1980s, roughly half of the AFL-CIO’s
budget came from the state department.
Intervention
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Guatemala 1954
Chile 1973
Central America 1980s
Kissinger-Kirkland
South Africa Buthelezi,
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Attempts to undercut anti apartheid Congress of South African
Trade Unions (COSATU) and the rest of the liberation movement.
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Solidarity Poland
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Support for conservative, sometimes pro-business unions
Attempts to undercut their more leftist rivals
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What happened?
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Corporate Counter Attack
Employee Based Welfare State
Globalization
Corporate Counterattack
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Number of Decertification Elections
1969 293
1975 516
1983 922
Number of Labor Violations
1970 10,000
1975 16,000
1982 32,000
Number Fired for Union Activity
1970 8,000
1975 11,000
1982 18,000
The unsustainability of the private welfare state:
Healthcare cost per vehicle
1,600
1,400
1,200
General Motors
Ford
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
Daimler/ Chrysler
Toyota Made in
Japan
Toyota U.S. Made
Car
Globalization
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U.S.--from 1950-1990
international trade went from 9% to 25% of
U.S. GNP
Foreign Direct Investment from 5% of U.S.
GDP in 1970 to 30% in 2000
10,000 Pontiac LeMans Early 1990s
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3,000 to South Korea for labor and assembly
1,750 to Japan for advanced components
750 to Germany for styling and design engineering
400 to Taiwan for “small components”
250 to Britain for advertising and marketing services
50 to Ireland and Barbados for data processing
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Leaving about 3,800 to U.S inputs
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Impact of Globalization
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Exit and Threat of Exit
Maytag Galesburg
Heightened competition
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Investors finally got news from Maytag that they can cheer
today: The home appliance maker said it was going to close a
facility in Galesburg Illinois and lay off 1,600 workers, or about
8% of its total staff.
The announcement sent shares of Maytag soaring by more than
7%. What Wall Street liked is that Maytag is finally moving its
production to a low cost country....
Social Movement Unionism
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1. Organize from the bottom up
2. Rely on Corporate Campaigns
3. Willing to look beyond routine NLRB path to recognition
4. Strong Orientation to Social Justice
5. Creative and Innovative in Style
6. “Self-Expanding” Sees actions as part of a long term process
What might this mean in practice? You are trying to organize
janitors…