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Marx on Unions

Marx on Unions. Knights of Labor. Knights of Labor Formed as a semi-secret society in 1869. Did not admit “unproductive” bankers, lawyers, doctors, stockholders, gamblers, liquor dealers Became a public organization in 1879, more directly involved in union activities

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Marx on Unions

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  1. Marx on Unions

  2. Knights of Labor • Knights of Labor • Formed as a semi-secret society in 1869. Did not admit “unproductive” bankers, lawyers, doctors, stockholders, gamblers, liquor dealers • Became a public organization in 1879, more directly involved in union activities • Admitted women (Mother Jones), blacks and unskilled labor • Over 1 million members by 1886, wins several successful railroad strikes • Decline: Haymarket Riot, Failed strikes after Pinkerton and militia repression, AFL woos away skilled workers

  3. International Workers of the WorldIWW (Wobblies) • Founded in 1905, organized textile workers, migrant farmworkers, lumber workers, • Industrial unionism, faith in the rank and file rather than leadership • Free speech campaigns • The general Strike • Crippling Repression, especially after their opposition to WWI and during • the red scare that followed • From the IWW Charter • The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life. Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the Earth. ... Instead of the conservative motto, 'A fair day's wage for a fair day's work', we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, 'Abolition of the wage system.' It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism.[4]

  4. American Federation of Labor(AFL) • Founded in 1886 • Samuel Gompers 1886-94, 1895-1924 • Craft Unionism, skilled workers • Conservative “unionism plain and simple” • Works for the best deal for workers within the system • No support for a labor (or other) parties • Instead.. • "reward your friends and punish your enemies"

  5. American Exceptionalism • 1. Working Class Divisions: Immigration, Race • 2. “Liberal” Culture • 3. Early Extension of Voting Rights • 4. No Feudalism • 5. Employer/State Resistance • **Radicals crushed: Knights of Labor /IWW

  6. U.S Union Membership as % of the Workforce

  7. Union Membership (in millions)

  8. Congress of Industrial Organizations(CIO) 1935-1955 • Industrial vs. Craft Unionism • Significantly more militant than the CIO, with a large left (including communist) presence • Sit Down strikes • Major victories: auto, steel, rubber, longshoremen

  9. The Wagner Act (1935) • 1. Explicitly guaranteed the right to join a union 2. Required employers to bargain with recognized unions 3. Allowed a majority vote of employees to empower a union to negotiate for all employees 4. Created the National Labor Relations Board to enforce these rules and to supervise elections.

  10. The Taft-Hartley Act (1948) • 1. Allows the president to order a 60 day cooling off period before a strike. • 2. Allows right to work laws • 3. Bans the Closed Shop (Only union members hired) • 4. Bans secondary strikes and sympathy boycotts.. • 5. Allows for court injunctions against mass picketing • 6. Holds national unions liable for the actions of their members • (such as wildcat strikes breaking a contract) • 7. McCarthyism-hits union radicals hard (many of whom are, in fact, communists.) Particularly aimed at radicals in the CIO.

  11. Voss and Fantasia“Relational Analysis” Material Conditions: The System of Rules Governing Unions The Balance of Power between Workers and Employers Symbolic: The Place of Unions in the Public Imagination “Special Interest” or “Social Justice” Consumer or Worker Type of Person: Bureaucrat, Strongman, Militant

  12. Business/Push Button Unionism • Material • Negotiation and Enforcement of Long-Term Contracts • Grievance resolution based on legalistic contract language • Focus on servicing existing union membership -- Cooperative relationship with employers -- Distance from the Rank and File -- Antiradicalism Type of Person: Bureaucrat or Strongman Symbolic Unions as “special interests”

  13. Labor and the Cold War • Funded by USIA USAID • American Institute for Free labor Development in Latin America (AIFLD), Asia-American Free Labor Institute • African American Labor Center. • 1983 National Endowment for Democracy • Labor, Business, Republican and Democratic Parties • In the 1980s, roughly half of the AFL-CIO’s budget came from the state department.

  14. Intervention • Guatemala 1954 • Chile 1973 • Central America 1980s • Kissinger-Kirkland • South Africa Buthelezi, • Attempts to undercut anti apartheid Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the rest of the liberation movement. • Solidarity Poland • Support for conservative, sometimes pro-business unions • Attempts to undercut their more leftist rivals

  15. What happened? • Corporate Counter Attack • Employee Based Welfare State • Globalization

  16. Corporate Counterattack • Number of Decertification Elections • 1969 293 • 1975 516 • 1983 922 • Number of Labor Violations • 1970 10,000 • 1975 16,000 • 1982 32,000 • Number Fired for Union Activity • 1970 8,000 • 1975 11,000 • 1982 18,000

  17. The unsustainability of the private welfare state: Healthcare cost per vehicle

  18. Globalization • U.S.--from 1950-1990 • international trade went from 9% to 25% of U.S. GNP • Foreign Direct Investment from 5% of U.S. GDP in 1970 to 30% in 2000

  19. 10,000 Pontiac LeMans Early 1990s • 3,000 to South Korea for labor and assembly • 1,750 to Japan for advanced components • 750 to Germany for styling and design engineering • 400 to Taiwan for “small components” • 250 to Britain for advertising and marketing services • 50 to Ireland and Barbados for data processing • Leaving about 3,800 to U.S inputs

  20. Impact of Globalization • Exit and Threat of Exit Maytag Galesburg Heightened competition • Investors finally got news from Maytag that they can cheer today: The home appliance maker said it was going to close a facility in Galesburg Illinois and lay off 1,600 workers, or about 8% of its total staff. • The announcement sent shares of Maytag soaring by more than 7%. What Wall Street liked is that Maytag is finally moving its production to a low cost country....

  21. Social Movement Unionism • 1. Organize from the bottom up • 2. Rely on Corporate Campaigns • 3. Willing to look beyond routine NLRB path to recognition • 4. Strong Orientation to Social Justice • 5. Creative and Innovative in Style • 6. “Self-Expanding” Sees actions as part of a long term process • What might this mean in practice? You are trying to organize janitors…

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