U.S. Labor 2006: Strategic Developments across the Divide

Abstract

The AFL-CIO and Change to Win have learned to co-exist without debilitating acrimony. The AFL-CIO has established Industry Coordinating Committees to facilitate cooperative bargaining and organizing ventures. On the political front, the AFL-CIO took the lead in labor's 2006 electoral operations and conducted an extensive, efficient, and unified campaign. Change to Win unions worked together to build strategies for a growth agenda. The success of UNITE-HERE's Hotel Workers Rising Campaign indicates the potential of this approach. Difficult challenges remain, but the strategic developments show signs of life and offer hope that labor may find a path to the future.

Understanding organising activity among US national unions

“…Others have taken the low level of organising effort as a starting point, and focused on questions of why unions are not organising more and whether and how organisational change within unions can boost organising (e.g. Bronfenbrenner, 2001;Fiorito and Jarley, 2003;Hurd, 2007). This latter body of research has noted that amidst the aggregate statistics showing low and stagnant or declining organising efforts, there are large differences across similar-sized unions in their organising effort levels.…”

John Sweeney's Legacy and the Future of the Afl-Cio

“…This initiative offered both money and staff support to “promote cross‐fertilization” of ideas and to activate the dormant Central Labor Councils throughout the nation. As a result of this effort, the AFL–CIO's political program was fortified, leading to “expanded mutual support networks” for aiding in unionization drives and helping unions to attain collective bargaining agreements (Hurd 2007, 315).…”

“…Another major focal point of the AFL–CIO's political work was its Voice@Work campaign directed at reforming labor law through the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would base union certification on a simple majority of a bargaining unit's employees signing union authorization cards, require arbitration in negotiating first contracts if requested by either the union or the employer, and increase penalties for employers who are found guilty of committing unfair labor practices. Moreover, Working America, an associate membership program created before the 2004 elections, which involved membership recruitment over the Internet or through going door‐to‐door in key Congressional districts, was beefed up prior to the 2006 elections (Hurd 2007, 317).…”

“…A nonpolitical initiative Sweeney implemented after the CTW's formation was the establishment of Industry Coordinating Committees (ICC) designed “to coordinate bargaining and organizing activities among unions with substantial membership in a particular industry.” In October 2005, the first ICC was put into place involving eleven unions in the arts, entertainment, media, and information industries; a second ICC, RNs Working Together, was formed in February 2006, which included eight unions representing nurses. Finally, a third ICC was created in August 2006 among ten unions negotiating on behalf of state and local government employees (Hurd 2007, 317).…”

The Death of the “Old Labor Movement” and the Birth of the New: Revitalizing U.S. Labor in the Early 21st Century

“…1 1 For articles that present a variety of perspectives on the Change to Win Federation as well as some nuanced differences, see Chaison (2007), Hurd (2007), McNeill (2007), Estreicher (2006), Masters, Gibney and Zagenczyk (2006), Greer (2006), Gross (2005/2006), and Dubofsky (2005). …”