Administrative Practices in American Unions: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Union administration, Human resource, Organizational practices,

A Strategic Choice Framework for Union Decision Making

“…In part, this has meant increasing the use of formal planning techniques, often called strategic planning, as well as adapting managerial practices from the private sector for use in labor unions such as program budgeting, project evaluation, and the use of competitive analysis. Since 1990, a growing percentage of international unions have engaged in strategic planning exercises (Clark & Gray, 2003). Other unions in the U.S., Great Britain, and Australia have relied less on formal planning processes but have adopted a variety of innovative programs, ranging from new approaches to organizing, revitalizing membership involvement, or developing new models of representation (Bronfenbrenner, 2001; Crosby, 2004; Jarley, Harley & Hall, 2002; Pocock & Wishart, 1999).…”

“…1 1 See Weil (1997) for a detailed discussion of strategic planning for labor unions. Clark and Gray (2003) estimate that about two‐thirds of unions engaged in some type of formal strategic planning in 2000, up from 40 percent in 1990. …”

The Workers May Yet Unite: Media Misdirection Versus The Political and Cultural Economy of the US Auto Industry and Worker Attitudes

“…While most established unions have in fact largely ignored immigrant workers (Ness 2005), closer consideration reveals that overt racism has not been a primary factor in the last 20 years. Rather, the reutilization of union operations (Clark and Gray 2008) and local power bases with particular constituents has become increasingly important (Milkman and Voss 2004;Tait 2005). In other words, new labor pools and immigrant workers fall outside of established organizational parameters, which would require that unions allocate resources and effort to organize them.…”

A qualitative study exploring the post-educational experiences of graduates of an executive program for labor leaders

“…Labor unions are institutions designed to organize workers and to build a culture of solidarity within the workplace (Fossom, 2006;Gray, 1975). As they mature and became more complex, labor unions consist of members who expect services, and of employees and elected officers to provide those services (Clark, 1989(Clark, , 1992Clark, Gray & Whitehead, 2012;Fossom, 2006;Rau, 2012). Some union officials are professional staff (Clark & Gray, 2008: Clark et al 2012) and others are in positions of leadership as managers or executives (Clark, 1989(Clark, , 1992Clark, Gilbert, Gray & Solomon, 1998;Margolis, 2011;Rau, 2012, Weil, 1994.…”

“…While the American labor movement has struggled with issues of internal administration, changing legislation, globalization, and technological advancement, the effort continues, and it is tougher now as union membership density continues to decline from over 30 percent in the 1950s to 20.1% in 1983, and 11.1% in 2014(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015. Labor organizations find themselves on the defensive (Clark & Gray, 2008) and are trying to maintain what they worked to accomplish over several decades, which is to represent as many employees as possible and in as many sectors as possible. Many have addressed the issues facing American labor unions.…”