Labor Relations Commons^™

New Deal Labor Policy And The Containment Of Radical Union Activity, Richard Hurd

Richard W Hurd

New Deal labor policies were designed with the stability of the capitalist economy in mind. Their pro-union provisions responded to labor militance and served to head off the formation of a radical working-class movement. The National Labor Relations Act established procedures which encouraged unions to pursue peaceful collective bargaining rather than a more activist course. Although the enforcement of pro-union policies was weak, the fact that they were adopted gave the impression that the state was sensitive to worker interests. When the crisis ended with the onset of World War II, the state reverted to an approach which more directly …

Learning From Clerical Unions: Two Cases Of Organizing Success, Richard W. Hurd

Richard W Hurd

This paper summarizes two successful clerical organizing campaigns. The first case describes the District 65 campaign to gain representation rights and contract protection for the clerical employees of Columbia University. The discussion reviews the tactics employed to win a representation election, to maintain rank and file involvement during an extended legal battle, and to conduct a successful strike for a first contract. The second case describes a campaign by Teamsters Local 364 to achieve recognition and bargaining rights for public school secretaries in South Bend, Ind. Already members of an employee association, the secretaries sought to affiliate with the Teamsters …

Charting Their Own Future: Independent Organizing By Professional Workers, Richard W. Hurd, Elisabet Tenenholtz

Richard W Hurd

In 2000 a group of about 100 physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech pathologists, most of whom are employed on a contingent basis in the home care division of a Virginia-based health care corporation, performed a remarkable feat. They organized an independent union and won an NLRB election in the face of stiff employer opposition. The story of the Organization of Home Care Professionals (OHCP) is intriguing in its own right because these professionals initially and explicitly steered clear of affiliation with any established union, preferring to chart their own course aimed at blending aspects of unions and professional associations. …

Structural Change And Union Transformation, Richard W. Hurd, Martin Behrens

Richard W Hurd

Analysis of the role of structural change in labor movement revitalization is presented as part of a multicountry comparative project. There are two interrelated causal chains that explain successful union restructuring. First, there must be sufficient environmental pressure to overcome institutional inertia. Second, unions J need a clearly articulated vision that provides a basis for strategic decision making. Three viable motivations for restructuring are identified: aggressive, defensive, and strategic. Aggressive restructuring strengthens union leadership; defensive restructuring attempts to stabilize the union to assure survival. If the restructuring is merely aggressive or merely defensive, however, it will not contribute to a …

Strategic Diversity In Union Political Action: Implications For The 1992 House Elections, Richard W. Hurd, Jeffrey E. Sohl

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] The purpose of this paper is to explore labor's strategic options in the 1992 elections. We will focus on House races because the diversity in political strategies among unions is most apparent there. However, our conclusions will have broader implications for union activity in elections at all levels of government. In evaluating the situation we will consider the impact of redistricting on labor's alternatives. We should note that recent developments have made many union political operatives more optimistic. The upset victory by populist Democrat Harris Wofford in the special Senate election in Pennsylvania, the eventual compromises on civil rights …

Reviving The American Labor Movement: Institutions And Mobilization, Richard W. Hurd, Ruth Milkman, Lowell Turner

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] The reawakening of the American labor movement under new leadership with new strategic orientations is a remarkable chapter in late 20thcentury American economic and political history. Given up for dead by so many at home and abroad, under relentless attack from American employers and with government supports disappearing, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFLCIO) and a core of key member unions have re-emerged since the mid-1990s as prominent workplace, community and political actors. With both strategic reorientation and new local mobilization, these unions have fought to reverse decline and re-energize the movement. While the …

After Bangladesh, Labor Unions Can Save Lives, Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] The factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 workers should be a pivot point for the global apparel industry, moving consumers to demand more accountability from brand-name companies that subcontract production to supply-chain factories around the world. Sadly, the history of workplace tragedies in so many of these factories suggests that after consumers in rich countries express horror and call for reforms, the demands for better worker protections die down and the marketplace for cheap apparel abides. But this cycle can finally be broken if demands for change start to focus on workers’ right to form trade …

Review Of The Book The Economic Analysis Of Unions: New Approaches And Evidence, Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

[Excerpt] This book surveys, synthesizes, and critically analyzes the rapidly growing theoretical and empirical literature on unions and dispute resolution. The focus is primarily on the United States literature, although references to studies from Canada and the United Kingdom are also included. That the survey is complete and up-to-date is suggested by the thirty pages of references at the end of the book; a number of these are to papers that are still awaiting publication. The authors present a remarkably balanced treatment and, for the most part, do not allow their own ideological orientation toward unions to influence their analyses.

Steelworkers' Victory At Ravenswood: Picket Line Around The World, Tom Juravich, Kate Bronfenbrenner

Kate Bronfenbrenner

The second in a two-part series details the sophisticated international campaign and grass-roots activism that gave labor one of its biggest wins in the '90s.

Locked Out But Holding Together In Ravenswood, Tom Juravich, Kate Bronfenbrenner

Kate Bronfenbrenner

The first in a two-part series that details the Steelworkers' victory at Ravenswood Aluminum - one of labor's biggest wins in the '90s.

Workplace Change And The New Labor Movement, James Rundle, Kate Bronfenbrenner

Kate Bronfenbrenner

[Excerpt] The authors of this set of papers sharply critique, from a variety of perspectives, the approach to workplace change that has dominated labors thinking for decades. We have not attempted to balance these criticisms with arguments that labor can grow and prosper by fostering win-win methods and outcomes, because those arguments are well-known from a wide range of publications. Instead, we hope that these papers will stimulate and broaden the debate over a critical arena that has not been integrated with labor's new ambitions.

Race, Gender, And The Rebirth Of Trade Unionism, Kate Bronfenbrenner, Dorian T. Warren

Kate Bronfenbrenner

[Excerpt] Diversity is not the enemy of solidarity. We contend that solidarity can, and must, be built among an ever-diversifying labor movement, nation, and world. The labor movement's very survival depends on it.

Building Unity In The Workplace, Ken Margolies

Ken Margolies

[Excerpt] One of your most important jobs as a steward is unifying the members in your area to work together and build the union. Building solidarity is essential, especially in tough times, but it can be challenging. Here are things you can do to build and maintain unity.

How To Probe For Settlements On Grievances, Ken Margolies

Ken Margolies

[Excerpt] Experienced stewards know that sometimes you have to ask management a lot of questions if you want to reach your goal. There may be a way for both sides to come out satisfied, but you have to know how to determine if that's possible, and you can only do that by posing the right questions.

How Union Leaders View Job Training Programs, John E. Drotning, David B. Lipsky

David B Lipsky

How do local union leaders view manpower training programs for hard-core-disadvantaged blacks? How do they perceive their members' attitudes towards these training programs? Do unions block the implementation of job training, or do they support it? What are the union leaders' views on special treatment and double work standards for the hard-core-disadvantaged black trainees? How difficult do union leaders think it will be for these trainees to achieve the educational standards set by the firms? We, along with Myron D. Fottler, explored some aspects of these questions in fairly intensive interviews with 51 local and regional union leaders in western …

Unions, Markets, And Democracy In Latin America, Maria Lorena Cook

Maria Lorena Cook

[Excerpt] In the 1990s scholars of Latin America moved from a concern with democratization to a focus on the implementation of market economic reforms. With this shift, the appreciation of labor unions' value to society was lost. Whereas earlier analyses of democratic transitions recognized organized labor's important role in bringing an end to dictatorships, later studies of market reform viewed labor organizations as either obstacles to be overcome, "losers" to be compensated, or simply irrelevant.

Perhaps more important than scholarship's neglect of labor unions is the neglect that is reflected in policies toward labor in the region. Economic and labor …

Relaciones Industriales En America Del Norte: Sindicalismo Y Sector Automotriz En Los Estados Unidos [Industrial Relations In North America: Unions And The Auto Sector In The United States], Maria Lorena Cook

Maria Lorena Cook

[Excerpt] Este trabajo empieza por describir algunas de las tendencias generates de cambio que se han generado en los mercados de trabajo y en las relaciones industriales a nivel nacional en los Estados Unidos a raiz de los procesos de globalizacion en los ultimos anos, tomando como ejemplo el caso del sector automotriz. Tambien se consideran algunas de las respuestas y estrategias de los sindicatos norteamericanos frente a estos cambios: las de la AFL-CIO a nivel central, y las del sindicato del sector automotriz, el United Automobile Workers, o UAW. Los cambios que se han generado en los ultimos anos …

Strikers And Subsidies: The Influence Of Government Transfer Programs On Strike Activity, Robert M. Hutchens, David B. Lipsky, Robert N. Stern

David B Lipsky

The authors assess laws governing striker eligibility for government transfers, finding evidence linking UI payments to strike activity.

From Transformation To Revitalization: A New Research Agenda For A Contested Global Economy, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

[Excerpt] The revitalization perspective is hardly new. With deep roots in both labor movement history and industrial relations research, such work was marginalized for much of the postwar period both in union strategy and in the field of industrial relations. What is new is the rather sudden arrival of revitalization research in the mainstream of industrial relations along with a broader literature on contentious politics in a global economy (e.g., Klein, 2002; Delia Porta & Tarrow, 2004). This introductory article offers an overview of the revitalization perspective, deepened in relevance by contemporary struggles for democratic representation in the modern workplace …

Awakening The Giant: The Revitalization Of The American Labor Movement, Lee Adler, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

[Excerpt] The key to the contemporary revival of the American labor movement is precisely a renewed mobilization of the rank and file. Based on our combined research and work in labor education and representation, we believe that large numbers of American workers, blue and white-collar, skilled and unskilled, professional, service and manufacturing, union members and non-members, are open and in many cases ready for expanded workplace and union participation. To be sure, mobilization by itself is not enough: also necessary are national union support, innovative and flexible strategies, and coalition building, and we highlight these as well. But expanded rank-and-file …

Reviving The American Labor Movement: Institutions And Mobilization, Richard Hurd, Ruth Milkman, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

[Excerpt] The reawakening of the American labor movement under new leadership with new strategic orientations is a remarkable chapter in late 20thcentury American economic and political history. Given up for dead by so many at home and abroad, under relentless attack from American employers and with government supports disappearing, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFLCIO) and a core of key member unions have re-emerged since the mid-1990s as prominent workplace, community and political actors. With both strategic reorientation and new local mobilization, these unions have fought to reverse decline and re-energize the movement. While the …

Reviving The Labor Movement: A Comparative Perspective, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

[Excerpt] In recent years, the long-declining U.S. labor movement has refocused in new and promising ways on rank-and-file mobilization, in organizing drives, collective bargaining conflicts and political campaigns. Such efforts are widely viewed as the best hope for revitalizing the labor movement: breathing new life into tired old unions, winning organizing drives and raising membership levels, increasing political influence, pushing toward the power necessary to reform labor law and ineffective labor institutions. The stakes are high and the goals ambitious: to close the "representation gap" at the workplace, reverse growing economic and social inequality, and build new coalitions for expanded …

Globalization And The Logic Of Participation: Unions And The Politics Of Coalition Building, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

Global liberalization is driving a 'logic of participation', for firms and unions alike. Economic pressures drive managers to innovate across a range of possibilities, from outsourcing and union busting to work reorganization and labor-management partnership. Those same pressures, reflected largely through the strategic choices of employers, also force unions to innovate – from concession bargaining and cooperation to coalition building and international solidarity. Because employers are increasingly tempted by strategies that seek to weaken or marginalize unions, sustained participation for unions arguably requires a new period of activist mobilization. This article explores one significant component of renewed labor mobilization: union …

The Europeanization Of Labour: Structure Before Action, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

At national level, the development of effective labour movements has involved the interaction of two processes: the establishment of formal organizational structures, and the rise of rank-and-file pressure and protest. At European level, recent years have seen significant organizational developments; this article discusses the role of the European Trade Union Confederation and the emergent European Works Councils. As yet, however, there has been no parallel evidence of transnational labour protest, and indeed the obstacles are considerable. Nevertheless, institutional frameworks may create a 'political opportunity structure' which facilitates its emergence.

The Politics Of The Labor Movement Revitalization: The Need For A Revitalized Perspective, Lucio Baccaro, Kerstin Haman, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

[Excerpt] Unions everywhere are struggling. Globalization, with its supporting neo-liberal ideology, encourages employers and governments to push vigorously against the constraints of employment regulation. Unions have to fight to protect past gains, resist decline and find new allies. To some extent, labor is always on the defensive in a capitalist economy, where ownership and economic decision-making lie largely beyond the reach of workers and unions. Yet the competitive pressures of today's increasingly global capitalism accentuate the pressure. Firms have new options and increasing mobility, far beyond those that most workers and unions can claim. One response is common to all …