Introduction: trade unions and labour relations in the United States

Abstract

This introductory article provides European readers with a succinct review of the organisation and activity of trade unions in the US. It also provides an analytical framework within which some of the strategic options available to US trade unions in the new millennium may be analysed. Three options are addressed: ‘reform for competitive advantage', ‘associational unionism’ and an adversarial ‘social-movement strategy'.

Cet article introductif présente aux lecteurs européens un résumé succinct de l'organisation et de l'activité des syndicats aux Etats-Unis. Il fournit également un cadre analytique dans lequel peuvent ětre analysées quelques-unes des alternatives stratégiques mises à la disposition des syndicats américains dans le nouveau millénaire. Trois options sont mises en avant: la réforme concernant les avantages compétitifs, l'«associational unionism» coopératif qui est orienté vers la gestion des ressources humaines et une stratégie de mouvement social contestataire.

Dieser einleitende Artikel bietet europäischen Lesern und Leserinnen einen knappen Überblick der Organisation und Aktivitäten der US-amerikanischen Gewerkschaften. Es wird auch ein analytischer Rahmen angeboten, innerhalb dessen sich einige der strategischen Optionen analysiert werden können, die den Gewerkschaften im neuen Jahrtausend offenstehen. Betrachtet werden drei Strategien: Reform zur Steigerung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit, ein kooperativer ‘associational unionism', der sich an Human Resource Management anlehnt, und eine konfliktorientierte Strategie, die Gewerkschaften als soziale Bewegung begreift.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adler, P. , Kochan, T. , MacDuffie, J-P. , Pil, F. and Rubenstein, S. 1997. ‘United States: Variations on a Theme’, in Kochan, T. , Lansbury, R. and MacDuffie, J-P. (eds.). After Lean Production. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 61–84.

Appelbaum, E. , Bailet, T. , Berg, P. and Kalleberg, A. 2000. Manufacturing Advantage: Why High-Performance Work Systems Pay Off. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Brenner, R. 1998. The Economics of Global Turbulence, New Left Review, No. 229, special issue.

Brody, D. 1993. ‘Workplace Contractualism in Comparative Perspective’, in Lichtenstein, N. and Harris, H. (eds.). Industrial Democracy in America: The Ambiguous Promise. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bronfenbrenner, K. , Friedman, S. , Hurd, R. , Oswald, R. and Seeber, R. 1998. (eds.). Organizing to Win. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Clark, G. 1989. Unions and Communities under Siege: American Communities and the Crisis of Organized Labor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Davis, M. 1982. ‘The AFL-CIO's Second Century’, New Left Review, No. 136, pp. 43–54.

Edwards, R. and Podgursky, M. 1986. ‘The Unraveling Accord: American Unions in Crisis’, in Edwards, R. , Garonna, P. and Todtling, F. (eds.). Unions in Crisis and Beyond. Dover, Mass.: Auburn House, pp. 14–60.

Eisenscher, M. 1999. ‘Labor: Turning the Corner will Take More then Mobilization’, in Tillman, R. and Cummings, M. (eds.). The Transformation of U.S. Unions. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Reinner, pp. 61–86.

10.

Estey, M. 1967. The Unions: Structure, Development and Management. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World Inc.

11.

Fantasia, R. 1988. Cultures of Solidarity. Berkeley: University of California Press.

12.

Farber, H. and Western B. 2000. 'Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Decline of Unions in the Private Sector 1973-1998’, Working Paper No. 437, Industrial Relations Section, Princeton University, April. Freeman, R. and Medoff, J. 1984. What Do Unions Do?. New York: Basic Books.

13.

Freeman, R. and Rogers, J. 1999. What Workers Want. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

14.

Galenson, W. 1960. The CIO Challenge to the AFL. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

15.

Gitelman, H. 1965. ‘Adolph Strasser and the Origins of Pure and Simple Unionism’, Labor History, Vol. 6, pp. 71–83.

16.

Goldfield, M. 1987. The Decline of Organised Labor in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

17.

Heckscher, C. 1988. The New Unionism. New York: Basic Books.

18.

Ichniowski, C. , Levine, D. , Olson, C. and Strauss, G. 2000. (eds.). The American Workplace: Skills, Compensation and Employee Involvement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

19.

Johnston, P. 1994. Success While Others Fail. Ithaca: ILR Press.

20.

Kelley, M. 2000. ‘The Participatory Bureaucracy’, in Ichniowski, C. , Levine, D. , Olson, C. and Strauss, G. (eds.). The American Workplace: Skills, Compensation and Employee Involvement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 81–110.

21.

Kircher, W. 1968. Testimony before the special Subcommittee on Labor of the Committee on Education and Labor of the US House of Representatives, H.R. 11725, Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office.

22.

Kochan, T. 2000. 'Workers Must be Given More of a Voice’, Financial Times, Monday, December 11th.

23.

Kochan, T., Katz, H. and McKersie, R. 1986. The Transformation of American Industrial Relations. New York: Basic Books.

24.

Lester, R. 1958. As Unions Mature. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Moody, K. 1988. An Injury to All. London: Verso.

25.

Mort, J-A. 1998. (ed.). Not Your Father's Union Movement. London: Verso.

26.

Nissan, B. 1999. (ed.). Which Direction for Organized Labor?. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.

27.

Parker, M. and Slaughter, J. 1988. Choosing Sides: Unions and the Team Concept. Boston: South End Press.

28.

Perlman, S. 1928. A Theory of the Labor Movement. New York: MacMillan.

29.

Rachleff, P. 1999. ‘Learning from the Past to Build the Future’, in Tillman, R. and Cummings, M. (eds.). The Transformation of US Unions. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, pp. 87–96.

30.

Shostack, A. 1991. Robust Unionism. Ithaca: ILR Press.

31.

Slaughter, J. 1999. ‘The New AFL-CIO: No Salvation from on High for the Working Stiff’, in Tillman, R. and Cummings, M. (eds.). The Transformation of US Unions. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, pp. 49–60.

32.

Strauss, G. 1962. ‘The Shifting Balance of Power in the Plant’, Industrial Relations, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 65–96.

33.

Taft, P. 1963. ‘On the Origins of Business Unionism’, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 20–38.

34.

Tillman, R. and Cummings, M. 1999. (eds.). The Transformation of US Unions. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

35.

Troy, L. and Sheflin, N. 1985. Union Sourcebook. West Orange, New Jersey: Industrial Relations Data and Information Services.

36.

Turner, L. and Hurd, R. 2001. ‘Rebuilding Social Movement Unionism: The Transformation of the American Labor Movement’, in Turner, L. , Katz, H. and Hurd, R. (eds.). Rekindling the Movement. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 9–26.

37.

Voss, K. and Sherman, R. 2000. ‘Breaking the Iron Law of Oligarchy: Union Revitalization in the American Labor Movement’, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 103, No. 2, pp. 303–349.

38.

Weiler, P. 1990. Governing the Workplace. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

39.

Wilson, G. 1979. Unions in American National Politics. Basingstoke: MacMillan.