On 7/26/06, Nathan Newman <nathanne at nathannewman.org> wrote:
> The difference between when I first was a union organizer back in
> 1988 and today is so dramatic that I have lots of hope for the future.
-The difference is in 1988, 12.9% of non-government jobs were -organized. The 2004 report says 7.9% of non-government jobs are -organized. So yes, there has been a dramatic change - organized labor fell by 38% -in those 16 years.
As I've noted repeatedly, the absolute number of union members fell like a stone during the 1980s. The 1990s ended that drop and, while new workers entering the workforce were not organized at a rate to keep the percentage of workers unionized at the same percentage, the total number of unionized workers at least held even.
But that's almost besides the point. No serious new industries or groups of workers were organized during the 1980s, but the 1990s saw an upsurge in health care organizing, especially home health care workers, and a range of other new organizing campaigns. Hundreds of thousands of workers join unions each year; the process just needs to be accellerated to counteract the losses due to mechanization, global outsourcing, and other processes that erode existing union membership.
What is startling to me is how many "leftists" pay no attention to these efforts and prefer to throw rhetorical rocks. There is a nationwide strike going on right now among janitors in support of Houston janitors fighting to unionize. Who knows if it will succeed, but serious attempts to organize private workers in places like Texas essentially didn't exist at the end of the 1980s.
So, yes, I see plenty of potential for unions to advance.
Nathan newman