American Labor Unions as Organizations

Abstract

Organization of unions in the United States is a function of law, policy, industrial organization, and historical processes. This chapter focuses on private sector union structures, based primarily on work with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). The Wagner Act of 1935, or the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) empowered American workers to organize into unions. The only way that workers can achieve power vis-à-vis capitalists is by collective action, by working together toward common goals. Law and practice define the relationships among stewards, union reps, supervisors, managers, and fellow workers, but how union members think about these relationships reveals their conceptualization of their union, their place in the union, and the union's relationships with management which may be quite different from the external model described by law and practice.

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