Introduction
Labour unions refer to organizations or associations of employees or professionals formed to advocate the interest of the members. These interests include working conditions, employment benefits such as medical benefits, and salary increments amongst other issues.
Labour unions often propagate interests that are in contravention to the will of the employers. The employers are often interested in profit making which may involve incurring minimal expenses as possible. In this context, they may not provide ideal working conditions for the employees.
More often than not employers have tried to undermine labor union movements through various ways including intimidation of the leaders, bribing and legal measures amongst other ways. There have been radical changes in the need for labor unions in the US workforce in modern days compared to the 1930s and 1940s (Turner 2001).
Declining labor unions membership in the US
Labour unions movements have been in decline in the US in the recent past. According to Global Research (2013), union membership in the private sector has been at all-time low in the US standing at 7% in the year 2009. On the other hand, labor union membership in the public sector is marginally better than that in the private sector.
The US Bureau of Labour Statistics (USBLS) notes that in 2012 “…public sector workers had a union membership rate (35.9%) more than five times higher than that of the private sector (6.6%)” (USBLS 2012). This is a huge drop considering that in the 1970s when labor union movements were at its peak, membership stood at about 29% (Global Research 2013).
The composition of the labor movements’ membership shows diverse membership levels among different professions, states, races, ages, and genders in the US. The USBLS (2012) notes that local government employees such as teachers, police officers, and fire fighters form the majority of the public sector membership at 42% in 2012. On the other hand, blacks and aged workers are more likely to be in the labor movements.
Challenges facing labor unions in the US
Many challenges face the labor unions in the US leading to their declining membership. Such challenges include globalization, changing work force demographics, declining popularity, and employer strategies amongst other factors.
However, the law has arguably been one of the greatest supports for labor movements and its greatest obstacle in equal measure. The ensuing sections will trace the regulatory environment in labor movements and how it has contributed to the declining labor movement in the US. The section will also attempt to give out solutions to the problems.
Evolving labor laws and their effects on labor movements
Strong labor movements in the US can be traced to the 1930s in the passing of labor movement friendly laws. The labor laws passed in the mid-1930s in favor of labor unions were collectively known as the new deal labor law reforms.
Central to these new labor law reforms was the National Labour Relations Act (Wagner Act). This new law had a dramatic effect on the labor movements in the US. According to Wright (2009), the Wagner act was critical in the following way.
The central elements of the act included the establishment of clear rights of workers to form unions, protections for organizing activities and machinery for preventing employers from engaging in unfair practices and bad faith bargaining. The act established The National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) which had the responsibility for enforcing these protections and investigating abuses (Wright 2009, p.1).
The Wagner Act made it relatively easy for the workers in any industry to form unions and negotiate with their employers. Workers wishing to form a union only needed to sign up cards informing of their intention to do so. After attaining a majority in the signing of the cards, the union was deemed to have legally been formed and had the powers to negotiate with the employer.
Several successes achieved through the Wagner act have been undermined labor laws passed after that. The passing of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947 had the effects of eroding the gains achieved by the Wagner Act. The Taft-Hartley Act had the effect of increasing items that unions were prohibited from doing.
These included “…wildcat strikes, solidarity or political strikes, and secondary boycotts among other things” (Wright 2009, p.7). However, one item that stood out in the Hartley Act that significantly undermined labor unions was the freedom to pass “right to work” laws.
The right to work laws had the effect of reducing the finances available to the labor unions therefore greatly weakening them. The right to work laws allowed individual employees not to join unions despite a majority of their colleagues have joined the unions (Warner 2013).
This, in essence, implied that individual members could benefit from the work of the unions without having paid membership fees. In this context, many workers didn’t see the need to join the unions.
In 1933 the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was enacted. There are several key provisions of the NIRA that had a profound effect on the labor movements in the US. Following a similar fate as the Wagner Act, the act initially contributed to the growth of labor movements before having negative effects. Central to the NIRA legislation was the concepts of “fair compensation,” “fair prices” and “fair wages” (Watcher n.d).
Watcher (n.d) explains the logic behind the NIRA legislation in the following way “…trade associations….were empowered to recommend codes of practices for their industries.
The codes, once approved by the National Recovery Administration (NRA), were legally binding on all firms in the industry” (Watcher n.d, p.25). However, for the terms to be legally binding they had to allow and agree to support the labor unions. In this context, Watcher (n.d) notes that:
The intent was to allow corporations to charge “fair prices” rather than competitive prices so that they, in turn, could pay “fair wages” rather than competitive wages. While the codes were binding in theory, they presented such an unworkable enforcement burden that, in practice, they were largely voluntary.
In effect, the primary enforcement mechanism was the Blue Eagle, the prize awarded to companies that complied with the industry codes. The Blue Eagles could be displayed publicly to advertise the company’s good standing with the NRA (Watcher n.d, p.25).
The passing of NIRA had a huge effect on the membership of the labor movements in the US. After the passing of NIRA, there was massive recruitment in which about 1.5 million people were recruited. Also there was an addition of “…340 new federal and local charters…” (Watcher n.d, p.25). However, despite the success of NIRA, the gains that were made were soon eroded by the negative exploitation of the rules.
Companies began exploiting the notion of fair prices by inflating the prices for their own profitable gain. This led to a situation where the firms that practiced fair prices in good faith were boxed into a disadvantaged position from the cheating companies.
Modern legal challenges threatening labor movements in the US
In the modern times, there are legal challenges that threaten the recruitment of members into labor unions. However, unlike in the past where the pressure emanated from the domestic markets in the recent past there have been challenges from the international markets. These pressures emanate from the effects of globalization on the labor markets.
There have been emerging concerns on legal treaties that the US signs on the international front that have repercussions on the domestic front. The labor movements often feel the need to join in the discussions to safeguard the interests of the local labor market. However, in several instances, such intervention has led to division of leadership within the union with various factions supporting opposing ends.
An example of globalization effects on the labor movements in the US includes the responses to the ratification of North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA was signed among Canada, Mexico and the United States that came into effect in 1994. The labor unions in the US opposed several provisions contained in the NAFTA agreement.
The labor unions in the US felt that there was a need to include basic standards in the agreement that would be enforceable in the domestic and international courts. However, these intended provisions were opposed by Mexico which was part of the negotiations.
This led to a division in the leadership of the labor unions with some wishing continue pressing for the changes and others agreeing with Mexico. Such divisions within the leadership of the unions had the effect of lowering the stature of the unions before potential members.
The way forward
There are several ways in which the labor unions should deal with the issue of mobilization into the labor movements and especially so among the youth. These solutions lie in the mobilization of members, civic education, clean leadership, youth participation in leadership, and constructive dialogue between the unions and employers amongst other measures.
In the context of mobilization, there is need to embrace new platforms in the propagation of the union membership that resonates well with the young target group. One of the platforms that can be embraced by the union leaders is the use of social media such as face book and twitter to propagate these ideas.
Face book has about 155 million users in the US (Social bakers 2013). The use of face book as a medium of propagating recruitment of labor union membership would resonate well with the youth.
Also critical in boosting labor union membership is the need for doing civic education among the existing and potential members. In this context, the education will focus on the gains made through the labor union membership and what is at stake. There is a need for education to focus on modern challenges in workplaces that are better addressed through labor unions.
There is a need to have the young people within leadership positions in labor unions to boost their membership among the young people. This is especially so because it is only the young people who may be in a position converse and convince their age mates to join them in the movements.
There is often the perception that the leadership of the labor unions must be relatively old. These old labor union leaders have negative consequences on the labor movements’ subscriptions among the youth as they are not attractive.
Another major way of boosting the membership of the labor unions is to clean up the image of the leadership of the unions. There is a need to clean the image that makes labor union leaders from being viewed as corrupt and dishonest people.
There is a need to portray the leadership as honorable and desirable in a way that appeals to the morally sensible workers. In this context, there is a need for the labor union membership to ensure that they act ethically at all times.
Finally, there is an increasingly need for the labor unions to have constructive dialogues with employers whenever the need arises. There is often the tendency of the labor unions playing to the public gallery by being over bearing in nature and making unreasonable demands. The labor unions need to employ good faith bargaining and constructive dialogues in their discussions with employers with a view of reaching a win-win situation.
Conclusion
It is evident that whichever way that you look at the issue of labor membership recruitment levels in the US, there is a need to embrace radical and modern ways of attracting youth membership. These modern ways must address the modern challenges and tailor their needs to match the said challenges.
References
Global Research. (2013). The Decline of Trade-Unions in the US and Canada. Web.
This article has been critical in understanding the reason for the declining trade unions in the US and Canada. The article makes comparisons between declining labour union movements in the two countries and gives possible reasons for the declining labour movements in US and Canada.
Social bakers. (2013).Face book Statistics by Country. Web.
This article was critical in the evaluation of the face book statistics in different countries and was thus useful in demonstrating the potential of face book in reviving labour union membership in US.
Turner, L. (2001). Reviving the labour movement. Web.
This article has been critical in giving possible measures for reviving labour movements in the US. The article articulates measures that have been undertaken in other countries and the level of success of such measures.
USBLS. (2012). Union members — 2012. Web.
The article was useful in articulating the demographics of labour union movements in the US divided among different work groups. The article also gives the labour union membership in various years.
Warner, K. (2013).The Real Reason for the Decline of American Labour Unions. Web.
This article gives an in-depth explanation on the reason for the declining labour union movements in the US. The article deviates from the norm and looks at unorthodox reasons behind the declining labour union membership.
Watcher, M. (n.d).The Rise and Decline of Unions. Web.
The article gives a historical insight into the factors contributing to the rise of the unions and the factors that in the recent past has contributed to the declining labour movements’ membership in the US.
Wright, J. (2009). Labour Unions. Web.
This article has been instrumental in understanding the labour union movements in the US.