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What Has Happened To The U.S. Labor Movement? Union Decline And Renewal, Dan Clawson, Mary Ann Clawson

Dan Clawson

For many years, US trade unions declined in union density, organizing capacity, level of strike activity, and political effectiveness. Labor’s decline is variously attributed to demographic factors, inaction by unions themselves, the state and legal system, globalization, neoliberalism, and the employer offensive that ended a labor-capital accord. The AFL-CIO New Voice leadership elected in 1995, headed by John Sweeney, seeks to reverse these trends and transform the labor movement. Innovative organizing, emphasizing the use of rank-and-file intensive tactics, substantially increases union success; variants include union building, immigrant organizing, feminist approaches, and industry-wide non-National Labor Relations Board (or nonboard) organizing. The …