THE DECLINE OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT

The Decline of the Labor Movement

The Decline of the Labor Movement

Since the 1970s, researchers have chronicled the decline of the labor movement and the shrinkage of collective-bargaining coverage to a small fraction of the American workforce. For those who believe that strong unions and collective bargaining agreements are essential characteristics of a healthy and economically list democratic society, these have been gloomy times indeed.

And not only have talented researchers explained the decline, many have implied or even openly argued that decline is inevitable, that labor unions are relics of an earlier industrial era and on their way to obsolescence in a modern high-technology and service-based global economy.2 Quite surprisingly, however, from the depths of despair, a strange and unexpected series of events emerged into public view by the mid- 1990s. From a few organizing unions of the 1980s (SEIU, AFSCME, ACTWU, CWA, and others), from the new AFL-CIO Organizing In- statute founded in 1989, from the rise to prominence of a new generation of energetic and progressive union leaders, emerged a wave of fresh activist energy throughout the American labor movement. The most dramatic indication of revitalization came with the 1995 watershed victory by John Sweeney, who headed an insurgent slate in a contested election for AFL-CIO leadership. The "New Voice" candidates campaigned on a platform calling for massive additional resources and energy for both organizing and political action, a platform that has since been widely implemented. By the turn of the millennium it was not yet clear whether this new activism would be enough to launch a full-fledged labor movement revival.

But it was clear that new hope was present and realistic, with the challenge of revitalization now at the top of the agenda for a once demoralized labor movement. The purpose of this book is to examine union revitalization efforts: to identify central developments, to analyze strengths and weaknesses in the new initiatives, and to assess progress made and prospects for the future.

We ask questions such as: Can union decline be reversed? Are there serious indications of revitalization beyond new leadership and publicity? What accounts for successes and failures so far, and what strategies have shown the most promise for future success? Can innovations in areas such as vocational training consortia contribute to labor movement revitalization? Are there ways to reconcile the contradictions between an "organizing model" of unionism and the traditional member-focused "servicing model" of the postwar era? Can unions successfully target relevant groups (beyond the existing blue-collar and public-sector bases) such as women, minorities, service employees, semiprofessionals, and professionals? Can political action and legislative campaigns on issues such as trade contribute to reversing the decline, or is this only a way to hold the line (or even worse, an inadequate strategy of the past)? This book is designed to target these and related questions by bringing together the work of highly regarded experts whose research and analysis indicate contrasting answers and ...