The Future of American Unions: A Review Commentary

Abstract

On October 25, 1995, in a plush hotel in midtown Manhattan, the American labor movement appeared to be reborn after decades of decline. On that occasion, enthusiastic delegates voted by a comfortable majority to elect John Sweeney as president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). Even supporters of his defeated opponent spoke optimistically that the election could herald the start of a new, more expansive age for U.S. unions.Today in the midst of the presidency of George W. Bush, the outlook for unions seems much less promising. Most unions still find themselves very much on the defensive. Membership density remains low—at best stagnant—despite what have until recently been tight labor markets that ought to have given unions bargaining power and strengthened the attractions of collective workplace representation. Unions still seem very much on the political margins despite their extensive funding and mobilization efforts in the 2000 presidential election, which helped Al Gore win key industrial states such as Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Michigan. Little public attention is being given to the inequities and insecurities of the U.S. workplace.The perceived corruption and greed of corporate capitalism have turned a harsh spotlight on the likes of Enron and Worldcom, but the new mood of supposed sobriety has so far failed to translate into an enlightened agenda centering on the public interest. The cause of creating such a social movement unionism has supporters, but it has so far produced sporadic, uncertain, and sometimes disappointing results. In short, the climate remains cold and uninviting for those who continue to believe that a revival of unionism is a necessary precondition for the development of a modern center-left politics. The pre-1995 questions are back: are U.S. unions in terminal decline? Is there an American exceptionalism to explain what’s happening?