Service Industry Unions

Josh Mason Jmason at aflcio.org
Tue Apr 20 10:49:24 PDT 1999


Doug:


>>The article
>>mentioned that unions have historically shunned "the young, low-wage
workers
>>that staff the retail sector".
>
>Because they're very difficult to organize and because low-wage
workers
>can't pay big dues.


>On the other hand, some unions, like HERE and the SEIU, are giving
>it the old college try.

The division of retail workers between small workplaces and small, competitive employers is a big factor here too. Keep in mind that SEIU is basically a healthcare workers union--hospitals and hotels have a lot more in common with factories than retail outlets do. An interesting exception is grocery stores, where UFCW represents about a quarter of all workers--far, far higher than anything else in the retail sector. My understanding is that's because the grocery industry is dominated by chains, where it's possible to negotiate chain-wide recognition agreements. UFCW is also supposed to be pretty smart about organizing, only targeting cities where they have or think they can get densities of over 60 percent.

Josh



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