[numbers on U.S. auto employment snipped]
In 1998, UAW membership - which includes the non-auto workers - equaled 84% of total U.S. auto employment. In 1999, it was 75%. In 2000, 68%. That's a pretty disastrous and sudden slide in density.
>Moreover, even the UAW (well, at least their organizers) doesn't believe
>that they've lost membership due to globalization and capital intensive
>production .
Yup. A union educator who does lots of work with the UAW once told me that the union's real problem isn't Mexico - it's the corridor of nonunion parts plants in Ohio. But, for obvious reasons, they prefer to rave about Mexico instead.
>You're also right that the UAW has had little recent success in organizing
>the parts industry.Yet the UAW could be doing more to facilitate organizing
>these workers.
Bob Fitch told me that a UAW guy once told him that they thought parts workers were just too much trouble to organize, and not really worth it, since they make much less money, and aren't worth it from a dues collection perspective. How's that for business unionism?
Doug