The American labour movement and the resurgence in union organizing

Abstract

In the last two decades, unions around the globe have watched in dismay as employers and governments have hastened to replicate US economic policies, labour laws, and union avoidance strategies.The result has been a race to the bottom for every aspect of the employment relationship -whether safety and health, contract enforcement, job security, pension benefits, or the right to organize.In all of these areas, US employers have led the descent.Union density in the USA has dropped to 14 per cent for the first time in more than 60 years.For the last two decades, unions have been able to gain representation for fewer than 100,000 workers each year, far fewer than the 400,000 union jobs that are lost each year from plant closings, lay-offs, corporate restructuring, decertifications, and contracting out.Instead of the union-friendly labour law reform that unions hoped to achieve under a Democratic administration, they now watch as conservatives at all levels of government pursue an aggressive campaign to undercut severely all protective labour legislation.Deregulation, privatization, and liberalized trade policies threaten the security of workers throughout the economy.Yet, at the dawn of a new century, the American labour movement shows signs of resurgence that make it as much a model for renewal as a prototype for decline.This resurgence is evident on the political front, where, through grassroots education and mobilization of their members and community allies, American unions have recently won victories in Congress on issues such as the minimum wage and maintaining restrictions on company unions.It is also evident in a series of recent bargaining victories at Verizon, Boeing, Kaiser Aluminum, United Parcel Service, and Continental Tire, where, through the use of creative and aggressive strategic campaigns, unions have successfully challenged some of the world's most powerful corporations.We also see evidence of labour's revival in the new wave of student activism

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