Harry C Katz

Thomas A. Kochan
Third Edition

Chapter 6
The Union Strategies and Structures for
Representing Workers
 Unions need to decide-
1. To what extent they will seek to promote workers interests
through political channels versus collective bargaining.
2. Whether and how they will pursue political and legislative
activity.
3. How to represent workers interests through bargaining
and through daily activities at the workplace.
4. How much of their resources and energy to devote to
organizing new members.
5. How they will structure their internal organization to
represent their members.
No question is more central to unions than
membership.

The lifeblood and sources of their power

are their members.
 Two types of factors influence union growth. Cyclical and
structural.
The Cyclical Factor influenced by economic factor,
and
Structural factors influenced by historical, political, and
social factors.
 John R. Commons was one of the first to note that unions
grew during economic prosperity and declined during
economic downturns.
Commons posited that workers became more aggressive in
pursuing their goals in good economic times, while
employers became less resistant since profits were
increasing.
Analysis of union growth reveals a persistent positive
correlation between union membership and the strength of
the economy.
Union
Growth

B
A

A B
Economic Prosperity
 The influence of legal and public policy
Union membership is low in states that have right-
to-work laws.
Twenty-two states have such laws, where it is illegal
to require employees to join unions as a condition of
employment
Union growth is strong in states that gave union
employees right to collective bargaining.
The passage of legislation is both partially a cause
and partially an effect of union growth.
Union Union
membership membership

B
A
A
B

A B
Right to
A B Right to work laws collective
bargaining
The passage of legislation is both partially a
cause and partially an effect of union growth.
 American unions experienced a sizable decline after mid-
1940s and again lost its membership from 1980s.

It is explained by some other seven factors, rather than

union-membership model.

1. Structural Changes in the Economy and the Labor Force

2. Union Avoidance through Employer Election Campaign
Practices
3. Employer Substitution through Personnel Practices
4. Government Substitution
5. American Worker Ideology
6. Internal Union Affairs and Actions
7. Limitations of the Standard Organizing and Representation
Model
1. Structural Changes in the Economy and the Labor
Force
Changes in the nature and location of jobs have hurt
union growth.
Jobs moving away from the regions where unions have
been historically strong to low cost areas.
Unions had the greatest success with middle-aged males
in blue-color occupation.
Expansion of service and white-collar jobs and young,
and female workers against the trend of union growth.
Statistics suggest that 40% of the decline in union
membership in the past 30 years can be explained by
region, industry, and occupational characteristics.
2. Union Avoidance through Employer Election
Campaign Practices
Management become more sophisticated in the tactics
employed during election campaigns.
They now use consultants, direct discussion with
employees, speeches by executives, and in some cases
threats.
Managements resistance to unions during election
campaigns appears to be associated with low union win
rates.
3. Employer Substitution through Personnel Practices
Management does not always wait until an organizing
election to try to convince employee that unions are
unnecessary
Management can adopt sophisticated personnel practices
(human resource industrial relations pattern) to avoid
union organizing.
Theses practices contribute to firms productivity and
performance.
4. Government Substitution
Since the late 1960s, government has become more
directly involved in shaping employment conditions
through regulations on health, safety, minimum wage,
pension rights and funding
These benefits were given by union earlier.
For unique cultural reasons, government substitution have
a greater negative impact on U.S. unionization
5. American Worker Ideology
Some historians argue that American individualistic
culture and the absence of class or aristocratic
traditions lead to a weak union appeal
However, opinion polls show that attitudes toward
unions are similar in the U.S. and Canada, casting
doubt that ideology alone explains the difference;
perhaps management resistance explains the
difference.
6. Internal Union Affairs and Actions
Unions may bear some blame for their organizing
difficulties and decline.
Unions have suffered from corruption and sluggish
adaptation to changing times.
Charges of corruption of teamsters and longshoring
unions create low images among general public.
They have not dedicated sufficient resources to organize
unions.
They were not enthusiastic and committed as previous.
Teamsters:
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is a
labor union in the United States and Canada.
Formed in 1903 by the merger of several local and regional
locals of teamsters, the union now represents a diverse
membership of blue-collar and professional workers in both
the public and private sectors.
The union had approximately 1.4 million members in 2008.
Longshoring: The International Longshore and
Warehouse Union (ILWU) is a labor union which
primarily represents dock workers on the West Coast of
the United States, British Columbia, and Canada.
It also represents hotel workers in Hawaii, warehouse
workers throughout the West and bookstore workers
in Portland.
The union was established in 1937 after a 3-month-long
strike that culminated in a 4-day general strike in San
Francisco, California, and the Bay Area.
7. Limitations of the Standard Organizing and
Representation Model
There may be inherent limitation to traditional
approaches to recruit and retain members.
Under American labor law 50% of workers have to
join union before it gains representation.
Once organized a worker remains a union member
under the contract as long as s/he stays with that
employer.
These features of labor law require considerable union
resources to organize workers.