Can Unions Survive?

The Rejuvenation of the American Labor Movement

Charles B. Craver

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 1993
• ISBN:
  9780814772225
• Topic: Economia
• Subtopic: Economia del lavoro

"Defines the challenges facing the movement and offers comprehensive prescriptions for its successful transformation."
— The George Washington Law Review

A valuable analysis of the rise, fall, and--hopefully—the revival of unionism in America. [The book] distills into readable form a mass of legal and empirical analysis of what has been happening in the workplaces of the United States and other industrial democracies. Most important, Craver has drawn a blueprint of what must be done to save collective bargaining in this century—must reading for scholars, lawmakers, and, especially, union leaders themselves.
— Paul C. Weiler, Harvard Law SchoolAuthor of Governing the Workplace: The Future of Labor and Employment Law

"A thoroughly researched, insightful, and readable look at why American unions have declined.... This is a very informative analyis of a vital topic, and it will have a multidisciplinary appeal to anyone interested in union- management relations.
—Peter Feuille, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of Illinois

When employees at firms like Greyhound and Eastern Airlines walk out to protest wage and benefit reductions, they are permanently replaced and their representative labor unions destroyed. Every year, the threat or drama of a high-profile strike—in air traffic control towers, at Amtrak, or at Caterpillar—makes national headlines and, every year, several hundred thousand unrepresented American employees are discharged without good cause.

During the past decade, employer opposition to unions has increased. Industrial and demographic changes have eroded traditional blue-collar labor support, and class-based myths have discouraged organization among white-collar workers. As the American labor movement begins its second century, it is confronted by challenges that threaten its very existence. Is the decline of the American labor movement symptomatic of a terminal condition?

In this work, Charles Craver presents an incisive analysis of the current state of the American labor movement and a manifesto for how this crucial institution can be revitalized. Journeying with the reader from the inception of labor unions through their heyday and to the present, Craver examines the roots of their decline, the current factors which contribute to their dismal condition, and the actions that are needed--such as the recruitment of female and minority employees and appeals to white-collar personnel--that are necessary to ensure union viability in the 21st century.

Craver thoughtfully discusses what labor organizations must do to organize new workers, to enhance their economic and political power, and to adapt to modern-day advances and to an increasingly global economy. He also suggests changes that must be made in the National Labor Relations Act. This book is essential reading for lawyers, scholars, and policy-makers, as well as all those concerned with the future of the labor movement.

PART ONE

1. OVERVIEW

THE INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM, it seems clear, is unfavorable to the union. Power passes to the technostructure and this lessens the conflict of interest between employer and employee which gave the union much of its reason for existence.… The union belongs to a particular stage in the development of the industrial system. When that stage passes so does the union in anything like its original position of power.¹

[I]f there were no unions, workers would merely reinvent them. Without some kind of strong institutional voice to represent them, millions of individual workers would be completely at the mercy of giant corporate bureaucracies whose only interest is to maximize profits by minimizing the cost of labor. With all their shortcomings, the unions are the only organized voice in America that working people have.²

Every year, several hundred thousand unrepresented American employees are discharged without good cause. Millions more are laid off by companies that transfer their production jobs to lower wage facilities in the South or in Mexico and other developing countries. When employees at firms like Greyhound and Eastern Airlines walk out to protest wage and benefit reductions, they are permanently replaced and their representative labor organizations are destroyed. Senior personnel who participate in strikes against firms like Trans World Airlines have their hard-earned positions filled by new workers and less senior co-workers who cross the picket line during the labor dispute. Employees who strike technologically advanced corporations like AT&T discover that their employers can continue to maintain basic operations without the assistance of their regular workers. The waning economic power of organized labor makes it increasingly difficult for unionized employees to maintain beneficial compensation levels and to preserve long-term employment security. Most unorganized workers exercise no meaningful control over these critical areas.

During the past decade, deregulation and government budget problems have led to a decrease in enforcement of health and safety laws. As a result, thousands of American workers are seriously injured each year in industrial accidents that could have been prevented through mandated periodic safety inspections. In September 1991, twenty-five workers perished during a fire at a chicken processing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina.³ Their nonunion facility had not been inspected by safety and health officials for more than a decade. The locked fire exits that would have been easily discovered during a walk-through inspection prevented the escape of the persons trapped in the burning building. Conscientious shop stewards would not have permitted those safety law violations to continue.

Although the Employee Retirement Income Security Act⁴ requires private corporations to fund their pension plans in an actuarily sound manner, millions of workers are discovering that their bankrupt and dishonest employers did not make the requisite fund contributions.⁵ Individuals who expected reasonable pension benefits are receiving substantially reduced retirement checks. If the retirement programs of these employees had been jointly administered by union and management trustees, it is more likely that the statutorily prescribed premiums would have been paid.

As the American labor movement begins its second century, it is confronted by challenges that threaten its very existence. In 1954, union members constituted 35 percent of nonagricultural labor force participants.⁶ By 1980, this rate had declined to 23 percent, and by 1991, union membership represented a mere 16 percent of nonagricultural workers.⁷ Labor organizations that had won 70 to 86 percent of representation elections conducted by the National Labor Relations Board during the 1940s and 61 to 75 percent of the elections held during the 1950s⁸ prevailed in fewer than half of the elections held during 1991.⁹ If this downward trend continues, unions will represent a mere 5 percent of private sector personnel by the year 2000.¹⁰

Many people believe that labor institutions possess too much power, support economically inefficient work rules, and provide representational services that are not needed by individuals employed by contemporary business enterprises. Employers disseminate information designed to convince white-collar and professional employees that labor organizations benefit only working class persons. In “classless” American society, the vast majority of individuals consider themselves part of the ubiquitous “middle class”; no one wants to be characterized as “working class.”

A significant factor contributing to the erosion of public support for unions is the highly publicized disclosures of illegal behavior by some labor officials.¹¹ A federal court recently placed the Teamsters Union in a trusteeship to root out corrupt officials; numerous union leaders have been tied to underworld crime families; and various business agents have been imprisoned for the embezzlement of union welfare funds. When labor officials are involved, media stories frequently employ pejorative terms such as “organized crime” and “racketeering” to describe their conduct. When business leaders misuse client or company funds, however, the less opprobrious term “white-collar crime” is generally used.

The unconscionable sweatshop conditions that were pervasive in the early twentieth century have been substantially eliminated, and the labor movement has directly or indirectly¹² established fundamental industrial justice in the workplace. As a result, the moral fervor of the crusading union sympathizers of the past is rarely seen today.¹³ The charismatic instigators of social reform and economic equality who previously inspired millions of workers to unite in progressive labor organizations are gone, and few current labor representatives are able to generate similar intensity.¹⁴

Many contemporary union leaders exude a complacency typified by former AFL-CIO president George Meany, who frequently indicated that he was not overly concerned with the level of union membership:

Why should we worry about organizing groups of people who do not want to be organized? If they prefer to have others speak for them and make the decisions which affect their lives, without effective participation on their part, that is their right.… I used to worry about the size of the membership. But quite a few years ago I just stopped worrying about it, because to me it doesn’t make any difference.¹⁵

Numerous lower level union representatives exhibit a similar ideological insouciance.

Changing demographic, industrial, and technological conditions have also undermined labor cohesiveness and effectiveness. During the past several decades, the composition and location of the labor force have dramatically changed. The participation rate for women, traditionally employed in unorganized occupations, has significantly expanded.¹⁶ The labor force participation rate for minority persons has also increased.¹⁷ Labor organizations that have not been historically responsive to the needs of female and minority employees must modify their bargaining objectives to appeal to these new labor force entrants.

One of the most striking demographic trends over the past two decades has been the migration of employees and jobs from the Northeast and North Central areas of the country to the South and Southwest. The population and industrial migration from the Rustbelt to the Sunbelt is likely to continue. More than half of all union members presently reside in Rustbelt states.¹⁸ Unions will have to recruit members in other regions if they are to retain their economic viability.

The increased incorporation of new technologies in the workplace has significantly altered the structure of the American economy. The substitution of capital for labor in the manufacturing area has cost many organized blue-collar personnel their jobs and generated a concomitant increase in nonunion white-collar positions. The employees performing unskilled production functions lack the capacity to exert substantial economic pressure against their automated and diversified employers, and labor organizations have difficulty using traditional bargaining techniques to enhance the employment rights of those individuals.¹⁹

The technological developments that have significantly modified the structure of the American economy have contributed greatly to the internationalization of the global economic system. By the year 2000, several hundred multinational corporations will dominate world trade. The developed nations provide the capital-intensive technologies, the consumer markets, and the distribution systems, while the developing countries provide low cost labor. The proliferation of low cost “export platforms” has caused the export of many blue-collar production jobs. If labor organizations want to meaningfully influence the employment policies of international businesses, they must coordinate their efforts with unions located in the other countries in which those enterprises operate.

Demographic, industrial, and technological changes do not entirely explain the decline in labor union membership over the past thirty years in the United States. Many of the same industrial and technological phenomena have also occurred in Canada, yet the labor movement there has not suffered a similar fate. Approximately 35 percent of Canadian employees are union members, and 45 percent continue to be covered by collective bargaining agreements.²⁰ Even the membership rosters of industrial unions such as the Steelworkers and the Automobile Workers have continued to grow during the past twenty years.²¹

A major distinction between American and Canadian business entities is the great antipathy United States employers have exhibited toward the organizational rights of their employees. A recent survey found that 95 percent of private sector companies in the United States actively resist labor organizing efforts.²² Corporations have developed sophisticated election appeals designed to convince workers that labor organizations merely exact exorbitant dues in exchange for minimal benefits and diminish the professional image of those whom they represent. More aggressive anti-union techniques transcend behavior manipulation and involve overtly unlawful tactics in violation of federal labor law. Key union supporters are regularly discharged, and express or implied threats are made regarding the loss of employment security that would result from unionization.²³ It has been estimated that legal and unlawful management opposition to employee organization accounts for as much as 40 percent of the declining success rate of unions in National Labor Relations Board representation elections.²⁴

Is the decline of the American labor movement symptomatic of a terminal condition? Will the country continue its inexorable transition toward the end of the union era? As white-collar employees and technological innovations supplant blue-collar workers and industrial behaviorists humanize employment environments, some observers conclude that union representation will no longer be necessary.²⁵ Others, however, predict that labor organizations can be rejuvenated if they revolutionize their objectives and modernize their tactics.²⁶ Before examining the future viability of trade unions, it would be beneficial to acknowledge the impact unions have upon the employment conditions and rights of employees.

When most people think of the benefits provided by labor organizations, they generally consider the economic gains achieved by unionized employees. Such a view is reinforced by empirical data demonstrating that organized workers earn more than their unorganized cohorts.²⁷ Not only do represented personnel usually receive higher wages, but they also tend to be covered by more generous benefit programs. They are more likely to have health coverage and pension plans. Many have dental and eye coverage, and some even receive limited legal care. The ability of labor organizations to increase labor costs above market levels is normally attributed to the “monopoly” effect that enables unions to restrict the group of individuals who may be employed by a particular firm.

Unorganized employees benefit indirectly from the successful bargaining activities of labor organizations. Their employers frequently provide compensation and fringe benefit packages that are competitive with those enjoyed by unionized employees to dissuade them from organizing.²⁸ These employers recognize that if the benefits they pay their workers fall too far below those earned by unionized personnel, their employees may contemplate organizational activity.

The economic gains achieved directly and indirectly by labor organizations should not be overemphasized. Through the collective voice exerted by organized groups, workers are also able to advance nonmonetary interests.²⁹ For example, collective bargaining agreement provisions generally preclude discipline except for “just cause.” In the absence of such a contractual restriction, private sector employers are free in the United States to terminate or otherwise discipline employees for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all, unless such action contravenes a specific statutory proscription.³⁰ Because private corporations are not “state actors”—i.e., they do not function as governmental entities—they are not subject to the substantive and procedural limitations imposed on federal, state, and municipal employers under the United States Constitution. As a result, private sector employees enjoy no free speech or due process rights vis-à-vis their own employers.

Contractual clauses typically establish orderly layoff and recall procedures. Specific terms often require the application of objective promotional criteria. Seniority provisions normally determine shift, transfer, and vacation preferences. Other employment rights and benefits that would normally be left to employer discretion may similarly be defined in collective bargaining agreements. When unionized employees are not satisfied with the manner in which contractual terms are interpreted and applied, they may seek redress through grievance-arbitration procedures.

Business enterprises depend on the input of three fundamental groups: investors, managers, and workers. As each of these groups competes for a greater share of profits and for more control over corporate decision making, individual employees are at a distinct disadvantage. Investment capital is a highly mobile commodity. For this reason, companies seeking investment capital provide prospective stock or bond holders with detailed information regarding the proposed venture.³¹ Federal and state securities statutes also protect investors by m...