Labor Unions SP11
Economics -> American Capitalism and Social Justice Spring 11
What is a union?
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Organizations for social Change
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations is a federation of 55 national and international labor unions that was formed by the merger of the AFL and the CIO in 1955. They represent 12.2 million workers among them are teachers, miners, firefighters, farm workers, bakers, engineers, pilots, public employees, doctors, nurses, painters, plumbers and more. <ref>AFL-CIO. afl-cio.org. 2011. 08 May 2011 <http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/>.</ref>
“The mission of the AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families—to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation.” <ref>AFL-CIO. afl-cio.org. 2011. 08 May 2011 <http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/>.</ref> The AFL-CIO is trying to accomplish these goals; by organizing workers into unions, by building a strong political voice for workers, and by changing unions to provide a new voice in the changing economy. The AFL-CIO is trying to recruit and train the next generation of organizers so that it can get its members, its leaders, and unorganized workers to understand the need to be organized. It also sees the need to gain resources and new strategies in order to organize and win union contracts. The AFL-CIO further pledges to fight for the rights of working families at all levels of the government and speak out for economic and social justice. Their ultimate goal is to create enough power within the labor movement to give workers a voice so that they can speak out on issues that affect them. The AFL-CIO also wants to see the union as not just an organization that focuses solely on worker contracts but one that gives the workers a say in every aspect of a business including where capital is invested, what is the quality of the products or services and how work is organized. The AFL-CIO also ultimately wants to build stronger working communities that promote the needs of workers. The AFL-CIO also has other programs that promote social justice including their corporate watch, which alerts people to extravagant CEO salaries and human rights violations by corporations, such as sweatshops. They also encourage others to join unions and promote that unions could be unstoppable with unity, solidarity, and democracy. <ref>AFL-CIO. afl-cio.org. 2011. 08 May 2011 <http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/>.</ref>
Alperovitz and Unions
In his book, America Beyond Capitalism, Gar Alperovitz writes about the struggle of Americans to take back the control of liberty, democracy, and monetary power from corporations. Alperovitz is most famous for his “Pluralist Commonwealth.” In this, he writes that the most important principle is “that ownership of the nation’s wealth must ultimately be shifted, institutionally, to benefit the vast majority”.<ref>Alperovitz, Gar. (2005). America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy (p. 79). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.</ref> The primary goal of a union is to do just that, fight inequality and improve the lives of working people. The AFL-CIO publishes facts on the advantages given to employees that are the members of a union. As a whole, union members have a 28 percent wage advantage over nonunion employees.<ref>AFL-CIO. (2011). Union Advantage by the Numbers. In The Union Difference. Retrieved from http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/why/uniondifference/index.cfm</ref> This advantage applies to minorities as well. Women in unions, for example, have a 34 percent higher wage.<ref>AFL-CIO. (2011). Union Advantage by the Numbers. In The Union Difference. Retrieved from http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/why/uniondifference/index.cfm</ref> Latinos experience the highest wage advantage, with a 51 percent higher wage average (CITE). Other union benefits include a 56 percent health insurance advantage and a 209 percent pension advantage.<ref>AFL-CIO. (2011). Union Advantage by the Numbers. In The Union Difference. Retrieved from http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/why/uniondifference/index.cfm</ref>
Alperovitz is a proponent of worker-run companies. Many unions are working towards this goal by fighting for greater worker input in company decisions. The AFL-CIO, for example, is fighting for the promotion of democracy by having unions (and therefore the workers) be more involved in planning and monitoring policies on development. They are also pushing for the global right to freedom of association in order to insure the right of workers to bargain collectively and get more of a say in business decisions (CITE). Most unions are not looking to form cooperatives, as the author would prefer, but they are succeeding in forcing the company to take their opinions into account before decisions are made. Alperovitz has no faith in central governing and believes that change comes from the people. The union movement in this country is separate from a political party, as is the case in other countries. This way, unions can act a watchdog group for the government. They can make sure that Congress is passing pro-labor laws and lobby or fight them when they fail. The AFL-CIO blames failed policy for the declining standard of living among workers. The most important issues they are fighting are the lack of unions abroad due to anti-organization laws, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and tax incentives to outsource. Because the government cannot be trusted to take the initiative to make these changes, the union has decided to make it their mission to fight for legislative changes (CITE).
Unions fight against Capitalist corruption, yet they themselves are not free of the same faults. A good example of union corruption is the Teamsters. Their most prominent leader, Jimmy Hoffa, was a very corrupt man, funneling a significant amount of union dues into his own pocket. In response to this corruption, the Teamsters For a Democratic Union was formed. They fight the corruption within the union much like a union fights corruption in the marketplace (CITE). They use the same tactics Alperovitz proposes. They are fighting for more say in the union’s leadership by enforcing supervised elections, fair rules, and holding the leadership accountable for their decisions (CITE).
Domhoff and Unions
Yates and Unions
Solidarity Forever
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This line of content will have a reference at the bottom of the page <ref>E. Miller, The Sun, (New York: Academic Press, 2005), 23-5.</ref>
References
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