Introduction
Throughout the history of labor employers and employees have been having a love-hate relationship concerning rights, compensation, and other work-related issues. In the past, employees often treated employees like dirt with poor pay, inhuman working conditions, and lack of job security. During the days of campaigns by kings and emperors, the conquered populace was often treated as slaves who had to work without pay. But as rapid industrialization developed over the last two hundred years, the number of employers began to rise at a fast pace. The increasing number of employees emboldened them to form organized groups commonly referred to as unions. Most governments around the world also began formulating policies, laws, and statutes that gave employees (and employers) certain legal rights about the workplace. In other words, the world of the employee became more humane and civilized. Even so, the love-hate relationship continues mainly because employers and employees have different agendas. This paper studies the concept of labor relations in the United States with particular reference to a well-known union leader. The person chosen for this topic is John Sweeny president of one of the largest unions in the country namely, The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations or the AFL-CIO. Mr. Sweeney was selected because he has been re-elected three times as president of this huge union which is an indication of his popularity and effectiveness within the union.
John Sweeney – A review of his rise to union leadership
John Sweeney is one of the ever-memorable labor leaders in the United States of America. He was born in The Bronx (in New York) on May 5th, 1934. His parents were migrated from Ireland. His father John was a bus driver and his mother Patricia was a house worker. In 1944 his family moved to Yonkers and did his primary education and graduated from there. He accompanied his father when his father goes to meetings of the union and he was impressed with the union activities and also it was the real beginning of the success story of one of the great union leaders that America has ever seen. Then he took graduation in Economics from Iona College in the year 1956. During this period he worked as a digger and porter to find the money for paying the college fees. He worked as a digger and porter to pay his college fees. During this period he started his union activities graduated with a degree in economics. After his studies, he started his career as a clerk in International Business Machine Corporation based in New York. But his loyalty to the labor movement activities forced him to leave the job in International Business Machine Corporation. Then he joined as a research person in International Ladies Garment Workers Union. During this period the meeting with Thomas R. Donahue, who was shouldering a very good position in Building Service Employees International Union (now it is Service Employees International Union), was a turning point in the life of Sweeney. Donahue offered Sweeney a position as a contract director in one of the local divisions of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Sweeney accepted the offer and soon he was entrusted with the additional duty of President’s assistant of that division. Then he became a member of the executive board of the local division and in the year 1973, John Sweeney was elected as the President of the division. For three years he worked as vice president and in the year 1976, he was elected as the president of the local division of the union. To give more concentration in present duty, he resigned from the post of contract director. As the president of the union, he led a strike of around 45000 members of the union against the New York Realty Advisory Board to revise the compensation structure and the strike was successful. After that, he combined another local division of the union with his division and formed a new division, and led a strike of the new division for agreeing for the benefit of the workers. These all achievements in the local division helped Sweeney to become the national level president of the SEIU. With the leadership of Sweeney, SEIU grew as a powerful labor organization in America. The organization joined hands with other employees’ unions for the betterment of workers. It expanded its operation to other unrepresented areas of employment to help the workers employing in these sectors. Sweeney applied the principle of unity, to make aware the workers that if they unite together they can achieve their goals. Day by day membership base increased and by 1993 the number of members crossed one million. Sweeney did all his efforts to bring the members to the mainstream of the society and to improve the standard of living of the members.
But the highlight of his career was his election as the president of one of America’s largest and most powerful unions, the AFL-CIO. This union was at that time losing its clout and membership under the once able Lane Kirkland. Sweeney along with other union representatives asked Kirkland to retire on his own will, a request that was turned down. Opposition from members and other member unions began to get stronger and ultimately Kirkland agreed to step down. In 1995 Thomas R Donahue was unanimously elected as the new president of AFL-CIO. But Donahue could not live up to expectations. Sweeney had many plans to expand the union through mergers and organizing for membership. There were calls from within the ranks to appoint a new president in place of Donahue. For the first time in the history of the AFL-CIO, an election to pick a president took place late in 1995. Sweeney, the opposing candidate to Donahue, won by a margin of 57% of the votes and became the first president elected by ballot of the AFL-CIO. He has been able to successfully defend his post for a further three terms and is still the president of this large and influential union.
A brief history of organized labor in the USA
As mentioned earlier, employees felt the need to organize for their betterment. The United States labor relations have a long, colorful, and often violent history. Attempts at organizing employees had started in the country as early as the early 1800s. At that time most unions were regional or even confined within a small region or city. They were formed according to the type of jobs or crafts at that time. “During the 1790s unions were formed by the carpenters and shoemakers of Philadelphia, the tailors of Baltimore, Maryland, the printers of New York City, and groups of crafts workers in other large cities.” (Labor unions in the United States, 2008).
Moreover, unions were formed to address a particular issue that was problematic to the workers and were soon disbanded once the issue was resolved. The first national-level trade union was the National Trades Union, formed in 1834, but later dissolved. The US went through an economic crisis during 1837 causing a temporary setback to the union movement. One of the first unions that survive even today (in a different form because of its merger with the Congress of Industrial Organizations) is the American Federation of Labor. “Founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was a federation of skilled workers in national craft unions that maintained their autonomy while working together to promote labor legislation and support strikes.” (The American Federation of labor, 2009). The first union that threw open membership to all classes of industrial workers including blacks was the Knights of Labor formed in 1869. Currently, most of the independent labor unions in the country are under the umbrella of two large international unions namely, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win Freedom. The latter had been a part of the AFL-CIO and split from it in 2005. Due to instances of violence, corruption, and rigging of votes, unions are now regulated by a statute called the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) of 1959. The National Labor Relations Act and the National Labor Relations Board are other statutes and statutory bodies related to trade unions in the country.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
“The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a voluntary federation of 56 national and international labor unions.” (About Us, 2009). The Union has currently about 11 million members and has among its fold people from practically every profession or craft in the country. They include such diverse areas as a teacher, truck drivers, bankers, engineers, pilots and even public sector employees. It has got an affiliate union called Working America. The organization came into existence with the merger of the AFL and CIO in 1955. John Sweeney, its current president is one of its most effective leaders and has held that post for a consecutive fourth period. “The mission of the AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families—to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation.” (What we stand for: Missions and Goals of the AFL CIO, 2009).
Reversing the trend of declining membership in US trade unions
It does not need great insight to understand that the strength of a trade union primarily rests on its ability to act on behalf of its members for the betterment of their working conditions. For this, it needs bargaining capacity and this, in turn, depends on the number of members. The growth of membership slowed down to a great extent and even showed a decline starting from the late 1970s. The primary reason for this was the economic slowdown and loss of jobs in the country during that period. This trend did not change because the constitution of the US labor market had also begun to change. The implementation of free trade agreements brought cheap foreign goods into the market which did not help the local economy. The practice of outsourcing had also not helped matters for increasing jobs. Moreover, strict labor laws that favored employees and provided them with reasonable powers to lay off or dismiss workers resulted in employees losing confidence in union power. Sweeny could change this trend within at least in the case of his organization, the AFL-CIO. Sweeny’s strategy was not just adding new members or increasing traditional union activities (strikes, collective bargaining, etc). He realized that numbers were important and the best way to do this quickly was through massive organization plans meant to increase membership in large numbers. “John Sweeny, the AFL-CIO under his leadership, and his home union (the SEIU), all advocate shifting the whole orientation of unions to focus upon organizing.” (Wheeler, 2002, p.72). An example is when the SEIU) managed to rope in 74,000 new members from among the home-health workers. This previously unorganized sector was difficult to organize because they worked in patient’s homes and not in a collective workplace as in the case of factory workers. Butt the Union managed to achieve this through a mixture of politics and economics. This strategy was a part of organizing workers who belonged to the special needs category like home-health workers. Another strategy was to target lowly paid and unorganized immigrant workers. Sweeny also had success with his unions in organizing employees of colleges and universities. He also brought in the concept of the merger of unions that resulted in a dramatic increase in members in the merged entity. Sweeney’s first success was way back in 1977 when he merged two local unions, the Local 32B and the Local 32J. He later managed to merge the SEIU and the National Association of Working Women. Another merger with the United Food and Commercial Workers soon followed. As of now, Sweeney has challenges ahead if he has to strengthen the union movement as a whole in the country because the number of members about the percentage of total employees in the country is very dismal.
Get Involved
John Sweeney and the AFL-CIO have embarked on several projects to give more benefits to their members as well as for the employees of the country in general. At present, they have four major agendas before them. They are health care reforms, the Employee Free Choice Act, the US Columbia trade deal, and ending unfair trade practices. (Get involved: Take action now, 2009). The slogan that they promote is ‘get involved or don’t complain. The point that they want to get across to employees is that they should be more involved in union activities which will ultimately increase membership and power. To get support from working families in the country and to get their voices and opinions heard, the union has come up with a concept called Working Families e-Activist Network. A member of this group can send their opinions to political leaders and congress members online.
- Health care: The United States has a comprehensive health care system, but is seen as ineffective and expensive. There have been talks by several governments about bringing about comprehensive changes in the system. The AFL-CIO wants the US to provide high-quality health care to all employees and other citizens of the country.
- The Employee Free Choice Act: At present corporations and employers hold a lot of power that can prevent the unionization of their employees. If the Act becomes a reality, employees are free to unionize through ballots. This will give them more bargaining power and Sweeney plans to collect one million votes to lobby for the passing of the Act with the new government.
- US Columbia Trade Bill and other free trade agreements: Either out of genuine concern or to gain political mileage, Sweeney has promoted the concept of protecting worker rights in other countries where the US has trade relations. Columbia is supposed to have a track record of killing union leaders and intimidating workers. According to the AFL-CIO, worker rights are an issue in China, South Korea, and the Middle East. The US government has many free trade agreements with these countries. Sweeney and his unions argue that this should not allow unless all the countries that have free trade agreements with the US have strict laws that protect labor interests in their respective countries.
- Unfair trade practices: Another point of contention raised by the union leader is to put a stop to the alleged unfair trade practices followed by countries like China. Such countries have limited free trade policies and will change laws to suit their domestic economy. There will be restrictions on the import of certain items to those countries if they feel that their domestic industry will be affected. The US on the other hand allows almost unrestricted imports from them which is negatively affecting the US industry and the availability of jobs in the country.
Bargaining power
The bargaining power of most unions in the United States has been heavily eroded by government policies in the eighties and nineties. This has also resulted in the decline of union membership and representation across the country. The current state of affairs remains much the same and Sweeney along with other unions are strongly advocating for the Employee Free Choice Act to be passed. This aspect is discussed in more detail in the section titled ‘challenges’ later in this paper.
Militancy
Labor unions are generally perceived to be militant in their approach to securing better conditions for their members. In the case of Sweeney, many consider him to take a moderate stance in this regard. But his militancy is more in policy matters rather than through action. He once led striking janitors and made them block the road in a Washington DC street for two hours. But such actions are not many. In politics, he aggressively tries to defeat Republicans from coming to power saying that the party is very much anti-labor and anti-union. He is much more tolerant towards the Democrats and feels that the democrats have the same attitude towards unions. His moderate militancy can be seen from his tactics to defeat Republicans during elections especially in his early days of presidency. “The AFL-CIO had committed $35 million to a project to defeat Republican members of Congress in the Nov 1996 election even though a poll indicates that most trade union members agree with Republican policies.” (The AFL CIO’s out of touch campaign, 2008). An article that appeared in the ‘New Republic’ in 1997 calls him a moderate militant who has benefited in many areas by taking such a stance. “So far, Sweeney’s blend of militancy and moderation has served him well.” (Cohn, 1997).
Challenges
As mentioned earlier, union representation among employees is very low when compared to the golden ages of unionization in the country. In December 2007 a global union conference with representation from many union leaders worldwide was held in Washington DC. The general feeling among the participants was that certain statutes in the country were detrimental to the growth of unions not only in the USA but for unions worldwide. Moreover, “Union leaders and experts from around the world affirmed to the congressional audience that the low level of union representation in America and the extreme anti-union tactics of U.S. employers are a threat to workers’ bargaining rights around the world.” (Global focus on collective bargaining coverage: US congress meets the world labor movement, 2008). The statute that was most called for was the Employee Free Choice Act. This Act, controversial to many employers, would give power to employees to conduct ballots to vote whether the organization where they work needs union representation. The mood of the conference was that this had positive implications, not only in the USA but for the entire world. Governments could replicate rules in the act to increase the power of the unions in respective countries. The collective bargaining power and other powers of unions in the United States have become extremely low at present. According to Larry Cohen, president of the CWA, nearly 35% of the entire US workforce benefited from collective bargaining. The figure now stood at a dismal 12% overall, with only 8% of employees in the private sector who can benefit from this. Comparative figures for certain parameters that represent overall union power are given here for reference. The collective bargaining power in the United States was a dismal 12% while it was 92% in Sweden, 91% in France, and 50% in Australia. In the UK, it was lower at 35%, but still ahead of the situation in the US. The US has a very expensive and inefficient health public health care program. Only 25% of employees were covered under it in the US while the figure was 100% or close to it in all the other three countries mentioned above. There is no paid maternity leave in the country. Sweden provides for 72 weeks, Canada provides for 56 weeks, and the UK provides for 18 weeks of maternity leave. The US has zero weeks of statuary minimum paid annual leave. Sweden allows 25 days, the UK 20 days, and France 30 days of annual paid leave. (How does the United States Stack Up, n.d). The Employee Free Choice Act has not yet been passed as of date. If it is shelved, John Sweeney and unions in the country will find the days ahead very challenging. But the AFL-CIO is confident that the unions will get support from the newly formed Barack Obama Government in the United States.
Conclusion
The labor unions future in the country is full of challenges and uncertainties. Government policies especially during the Bus era had successfully brought down the power of the unions in negotiating and bargaining. This has led to a feeling among employees that unions are ineffective in protecting their rights and improving their working conditions. The result was decreasing membership and representation. Sweeney through his tactics had reversed the above trend to a large extent through mergers and the concept of organizing. He has managed to bring in more members to his unions by targeting hitherto unrepresented sectors in the labor market. An example would the organization of the health workers in the country. He is also actively targeting the largely underrepresented immigrant labor force. But Sweeney and the labor movement face stiff challenges ahead. The major component of union membership was from the manufacturing sector. The slowdown of the economy and outsourcing of manufacture has led to a decline in employment needs in the country. Many corporations now have manufacturing facilities outside the United States. The major hope of the unions is that the Employee Free Choice Act will be passed by the new government. Sweeney himself has admitted that unions need the increasing membership of people from the service sector. His efforts at unionizing college and university employees are a step in this direction. There are many challenges ahead, but Sweeney has shown that he is clever, aggressive, and shrewd and has also proved that he is a fighter. This soft-spoken grandfather-like figure can bring more life into the weak trade union movement in the United States of America.
References
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Get involved: Take action now. (2009). AFL CIO: America’s Union Movement. Web.
Global focus on collective bargaining coverage: US congress meets the world labor movement. (2008). CWA News. Web.
How does the United States Stack Up. (n.d.). 2009, Web.
Labor unions in the United States. (2008). MSN.Encarta. 2009. Web.
The AFL CIO’s out of touch campaign. (2008). Internet Faq Archives. 2009. Web.
The American federation of labor. (2009). Cliffnotes. Web.
What we stand for: Missions and Goals of the AFL CIO. (2009). AFL CIO: America’s Union Movement. Web.
Wheeler, Hoyt. N. (2002). Approaches to organizing. The Future of American Labor Movement. 2009. Web.