Labor Unions in America: A response to Hard Work by Rick Fantasia and Kim Voss.
According to the authors, why have labor unions struggled in the U.S. How does their explanation resonate with major contemporary perspectives in the field of social movements? What do the authors have to say in regard to the possibilities and limits of labor union revitalization in the U.S. How does their view resonate with the major contemporary perspectives in the field of social movements?
One of the first problems labor unions have experienced during their various efforts at organizing in America over the past century or so of American history, is the perception that unions are foreign entities and constructions, rather than American-grown products. Why this should rankle America so, a nation of immigrants, founded upon foreign concepts and cultures, seems curious. But according to the authors of Hard Work, Rick Fantasia and Kim Voss, this is only one of the many contradictions in the attitudes of America towards labor unions. America holds dear to the principle that in the land of opportunity, if one works hard as an individual, one will be inevitably remunerated for one's labor, whether one is part of a union or not.
This is one of the central problems for American workers intent upon unionizing their industries and forming a coherent and unified voice. Ideologically, unions are defined as anti-American. And, in some sense, anti-unionists have a point in that, from a national and economic perspective, structurally speaking, American workers must navigate a very different labor market than their European counterparts. Fantasia and Voss point out that the American worker must deal with a labor market that is comprised of highly decentralized workplaces and where job skills tend to be acquired relatively informally and unsystematically, in contrast to the European educational and economic market for employee labor and skilled employment.
Today, in Europe, formal training programs provide occupational qualifications that are transferable to other job sites. In the United States workers tend to learn "on the job," acquiring firm-specific skills on an informal and individual...
Labor Unions These are organizations with membership drawn from the labor force of a particular economy and charged with the responsibility of representing the interests of its members in labor management issues within the work environment. Labor unions can also be specific thereby representing workers employed in various in specific trades and occupations such as communications workers for instance journalists, health care professionals including nurses and doctors, stage and theatrical employees
Labor unions are associations of workers for the purpose of improving the economic status and working conditions of the employees through collective bargaining with employers (Union pp). The two general types of unions are the horizontal, or craft, union, which is composed of members who are skilled in a particular craft, such as the International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, and the vertical, or industrial, union, which includes
Labor Studies Declining Unions and Worker Sentiment In 2013, a startling recognition was went relatively unnoticed in the news: the American workforce share that was unionized reached a low that had not been seen in 97 years (Lui, 2013). The number of workers who belong to a union is a mere 11.3% of the labor force -- and is still shrinking (Ahlquist, 2012). The public sector, where unionization seemed to have found
This new generation of activists on college campuses nationwide has inspirited students to talk about their concerns about workers rights. This effort was also conducted largely through e-mail campaigns over the Internet. Some graduate students have already formed their own unions. Appealing to Right-To-Work States Arizona, famously known as a right-to-work state, is emerging as a new stomping ground for labor unions. Organized labor is making one of its largest efforts
An increase in employee-management teamwork and communication likewise reduced the need for labor union representation. Labor unions, thus, no longer play the critical role they once did in labor-management relations (Encyclopedia of Small Business, Maxwell). A New Global Labor Federation Representatives from trade unions throughout the world organized a new global labor federation to insure that workers' rights are not overlooked in economic globalization (Associated Press, 2006). The new body, the
To intimidate striking workers or escort strike breakers, workers who would replace the individuals striking, across picket lines some employers contracted private companies like the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The United States Department of Labor reports that the Coal Strike of 1902 proved to be a turning point in U.S. policy. On October 3, 1902, to address the strike in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal fields that he perceived to threaten a
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