Thesis on "How Union Gets New Membership"

Thesis 7 pages (2013 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Unions Get New Memberships

A labor union is defined as "a group of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in the key areas of wages, hours, and working conditions." Originally, labor unions were primarily made up of male, blue-collar workers, but as the economy of the United States evolved from production industries to service industries, union membership has seen a dramatic increase in white-collar and female workers (Boone and Kurtz).

History and Evolution

Labor unions began to evolve in the United States in the 1700's and 1800's due to the need for safety and security for workers. Workers formed labor unions in response to intolerable working conditions, low wages, and long hours.

In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, men, women, and even children worked in unsafe factories from dawn to dark every day of the week for only pennies a day. These oppressive conditions forced workers to look for ways to improve their situation. They gradually learned that by banding together and bargaining as a group, they could pressure employers to respond to their demands (Luft).

In 1886 the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was created, this was the beginning of today's modern union structure. AFL membership grew rapidly until the 1920's, when there were few skilled craft workers yet to be organized. By that time, three-fourths of the organized workers in the United States were members of the AFL (Boone and Kurtz).

In the early 1920's, workers in the steel, aluminum, auto, and rubber industries formed many individual industrial unions (groups of employees working in the same industry, yet not using the same skills). These unions did not agree with the craft union concept (grouping workers with the same specific skill), which was the organizational structure of the AFL. Therefore, in 1936, they split with the AFL and became a new group of affiliated unions called the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Organizing complete industries instead of individual crafts proved a successful way to deal with mass-production industries, and the CIO's membership soon grew to nearly that of the AFL (Luft).

Growth of Membership in Unions

Membership in labor unions grew slowly from 1920 to 1933, but with the boom of the modern labor movement of 1933 to 1944, through the combination of The New Deal labor legislation, competition between the AFL and the CIO, and World War II, union membership quadrupled to five million members.

Union membership continued to grow through the 1940's and 50's with memberships reaching more than 15 million. At that time a fourth of the labor force was unionized and that's when the government officially sanctioned unions.

In 1955, the AFL and CIO resolved their disagreements and merged into one enormous labor organization. All the significant unions in the U.S. today except the National Education Association are associated with the AFL-CIO.

Union membership diminished in the late 50's because white-collar jobs outnumbered blue-collar jobs for the first time, large numbers of women entered the job market, and the economy was changing from manufacturing to a service-oriented industry.

It wasn't until the Vietnam War era that growth resumed and the unions attracted new members largely composed of public sector employees and professionals.

Since the 80's and 90's union membership has fallen off in the percentage of workers that are unionized. This decline again was brought on largely by the decrease in blue-collar workers, better labor legislation protecting employees, better management -- employee relationships, and the large numbers of younger working people who were not concerned with union benefits. Despite the decline in the percent of workers that were unionized, nearly 18 million American workers belonged to labor unions.

Changing face of the Modern Union Member

To remain essential, all organizations must constantly attract new, younger members to replace older, long-time members as they inevitably retire or die. As the economy has shifted from a manufacturing base to a service and information base in the latter half of the twentieth century, membership in unions not only has declined but the very nature of the that membership has changed as well (Asher, Heberlig and Ripley).

The typical union member of four or five decades ago is not the typical union member of today. For decades the average labor union member has been less educated, urban, white, male, blue-collar industrial worker who had a stay-at-home wife -- an image that was portrayed by the demographics of union members in the 1950's. Today's unionized workforce is different as well as diverse, and logic says that those changes may have dramatic consequences for the power of the unions (Asher, Heberlig and Ripley).

The principal means by which unions add new members is recognition elections supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). When 30% of a nonunionized firm's workers request an election, the NLRB identifies the employees eligible to be covered by the law and schedules an election.

If a majority of the firm's eligible workers vote to be represented by a union, the union is legally recognized. This does not guarantee that the union will be successful in obtaining a contract. Nonetheless it constitutes the key step in recruiting new union members (Edwards).

New Approach to Recruit New Members

Unions are becoming more professional in their hunt for members, according to new research by Cardiff Business School's New Unionism Research Group. It shows that an increasing number of trade unions are employing specialist organizers to work on recruitment and recognition campaigns and this is boosting union membership. Over half (56%) of trades unions now employ specialist organizers, compared to only 38% in 1998 (Staff).

This is due, in part, to the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Organizing Academy, which has provided trained organizers over the past four years. The TUC Activist Academy is an exciting new initiative aimed at increasing the involvement of union reps in organizing campaigns and assisting them in building stronger workplace unions by:

Research finds that unions with specialist organizers have been more likely to register an increase in total membership. Between 1997 and 2000, 65% of unions reported a rise in membership compared to only 26% in 1994-1998 (Staff).

Union Female Membership is Increasing

In 2007 the number of American workers belonging to labor unions rose again. Union membership increased that year by 311,000 members and growth was especially high in construction and health care. In addition, more than 201,000 women joined unions in 2007, nearly twice the number of men who joined. Women account for 44% of all union members, a new high (Skurzynski).

New Challenges for Workers Helps Union Membership

Professional workers are confronting increasing challenges to their careers today, brought about by rapidly changing technology, the turbulent world economy, and new work methods.

Like so many other workers, professionals are forming unions to enhance their professional autonomy, to be involved in making the decisions that affect their careers, and for greater professional and personal security. In nearly every occupational category, union members earn more than nonunion workers. By affiliating with professional and other related occupations the union memberships will increase as that workforce grows (The AFL-CIO ).

Unions Attract New Members by Appealing to Professionals

The union movement is now 53% white collar workers. In the professional and related occupations, approximately 18% of workers are union members.

Employment in the professional and associated specialized occupations represents the largest share of employment in 2008: about 21%. These professions are growing quicker than ever before and are accumulating more employees than any other major work-related category. The U.S. Labor Bureau projects about 1.7 million new health care related jobs and social assistant positions; educational services will increase 1.1 million new jobs, and another one million in specialized, science and technology services.

The AFL-CIO has made it easier for organizations and their members to become part of the AFL-CIO family and enjoy the benefits of working family solidarity -- while retaining their individual identity, culture, and autonomy (The AFL-CIO ).

Unions are Reaching out to Immigrant Workers

In an effort remain vital and to attract new members, some unions have begun to reach out to immigrant workers. The number of immigrants, documented and undocumented, represented by unions surged to two million in 2006, up from 1.6 million ten years earlier (Skurzynski).

If unions can show immigrant workers that they can have a voice if they ban together and show solidarity, they can increase union membership even more in the future.

Attracting Potential Members with Technology

The unions have been using video technology to attract new members, and advertising through the Internet. Using the internet to attract potential members helps make the union more effective and efficient in recruiting by communicating with workers through the web who are not part of an existing union. These kinds of workers are an important potential source of new members. Employees are already utilizing the internet to communicate with each another concerning their jobs, and some of them could possibly be interested in the benefits of joining a union.

Attracting New Members from College… READ MORE

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