A trade or labor union is an association of workers in a particular trade, industry, or plant, which uses collective action to press for improvements in the pay, benefits, and working conditions of its members. The roots of trade unionism as a movement can be traced to 18th-century Britain, where the very first fraternal and self-help associations of workingmen were established. During the 19th century, trade unionism developed simultaneously in America, Great Britain, and other parts in Europe.
When unions became outspoken on political and economic matters, they met with hostility from employers and government. They were often prosecuted under restraint-of-trade and conspiracy statutes. Consequently, workingmen's associations in Britain and the United States were generally fleeting enterprises through much of 19th century. Overall, British unionism exhibited a stronger inclination to political activity than its American counterpart, culminating in the formation of the Labour Party in 1906.
British unionism gained legal legitimacy from the Trade-Union Act of 1871. In the United States, union legitimacy was gained more gradually, by a series of court decisions that incrementally placed greater restrictions on the use of injunctions and conspiracy laws against unions. In 1886 several unions of skilled workers established the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which marked the start of a large-scale labor movement in the U.S.
The earliest unions in both the U.S. and Great Britain were of skilled workers, It was widely believed that unskilled workers were not suited for union organization. But over time, in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, unions of unskilled or semiskilled workers showed themselves to be viable entities. America, meanwhile, was slower to learn this lesson. In 1935 the AFL expelled a small group of member unions that were attempting to organize unskilled laborers. The expelled unions joined forces to form the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which successfully organized the steel and automobile industries. In 1955 the AFL and the CIO merged, representing a combined total of 15 million workers.
In contemporary America, government (public-sector) unions have become major players in the nation's political process, providing a strong base of support for the Left. Today more Americans are employed by government than work in manufacturing, and fully 37.2 percent of government employees are unionized. This is virtually the only sector of American society where unions have been growing. Fifty years ago, nearly half of private-sector workers were union members. Today that proportion has plummeted to a mere 8.2 percent of private-sector workers. (One reason for this decline is that unionized companies, forced to pay wages higher than the law of supply and demand warrants, became uncompetitive in the global marketplace and have been going out of business.)
Because government workers get their money not from a free marketplace but from taxes, their unions have a large incentive to advocate on behalf of political leaders who support higher taxes and bigger government, which can, in turn, produce an ever-greater number of public-sector union jobs. The wealth, power, and future of these unions depend on the election of advocates of government expansion. As pollster Scott Rasmussen explained in the Wall Street Journal, "Public-sector workers want government to grow first, and the overall health of the economy isn't as relevant to them." This translates into overwhelming public-sector union support for Democratic politicians who will block efforts to reduce government and to lower taxes.
The two largest government unions in the U.S. today are the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME). In 2002 these two unions made more soft-money political campaign contributions than any others. Their money - along with that of their fellow public-sector unions, constitutes the lifeblood of the Democratic Party. The unions' direct financial support of Democratic candidates is just one of many ways in which they influence the political process. A much larger and indeterminate contribution takes the form of money funneled through party and other organizations - to supply ground troops to man telephone banks, do door-to-door campaigning, or enact get-out-the-vote efforts on Election Day. Such efforts, if paid for, would be worth many millions of dollars. In Michigan, the United Auto Workers union convinced the automobile manufacturers to make Election Day a holiday so that union workers could get paid by their companies for last-minute, door-to-door, get-out-the-vote campaigning. The current president of the SEIU, the former New Leftist Andrew Stern, in 1996 told his members that he expected "every leader at every level of this union - from the international president to the rank-and-file member - to devote five working days this year to political action." As Ryan Lizza, Associate Editor of The New Republic, noted in 2003, today's SEIU leaders "tend to be radical, even socialist."
Similarly, John Sweeney, president of the powerful AFL-CIO, is a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America and therefore believes that capitalism itself should be eliminated. He repealed an AFL-CIO rule prohibiting communists from being leaders of its member unions. The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), which enthusiastically backed Sweeney's ascent, says it is now "in complete accord" with the AFL-CIO's program. "The radical shift in both leadership and policy is a very positive, even historic change," wrote CPUSA National Chairman Gus Hall in 1996.
This section of DiscoverTheNetworks examines the agendas, activities, and affiliations of American labor unions.
