Introduction by Christopher Osakwe
Big labor in America, battered by fifteen months of recession and a poor climate for unions, is facing a critical future. The unions are under siege on nearly all fronts: from the Supreme Court of the United States, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the U.S. Department of Labor, and some union-busting big businesses. In a series of recent decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court has come down squarely against the interests of unions. The present composition of the NLRB (the Reagan majority) has made it easier for employers to rid themselves of unions. In fact, one could argue that the NLRB as it is presently constituted has turned into a mouthpiece for management. The OSHA and the U.S. Department of Labor have also contributed to the prevailing anti-union sentiments in the United States today.
Organized labor in the United States is also getting a run for its money from nonunion workers in some of the most troubled industries. Workers with no union affiliation are taking a wide array of jobs that once went to union workers. Efforts by businesses to save money are fuelling the trend. Because their wage levels are usually lower than union scales, employment of nonunion workers can push down production costs and often underprice unionized competitors. For their part, unionized enterprises are pressing for contract concessions to narrow the cost advantage enjoyed by firms employing nonunion workers. In some industries changes in government regulatory policies have also encouraged the trend. For example, deregulation of the trucking industry has allowed nonunion operators to enter the market and run the unionized companies ragged. The same circumstances prevail with the busline operators.
All of these trends mean that the American union movement has finally met the marketplace. The percentage of workers who do not belong to unions is rising fast in the United States. In 1965, for example, 71.6% of all American workers did not belong to unions. In 1975 the figure rose to 74.5%. In 1984 it is estimated that 80% of all American workers do not belong to a union. This trend can be expected to continue. This should be compared to the situation in comparable countries. For example, approximately 40% of the employer work force in West Germany belongs to unions; more than 50% of the employed workers in the United Kingdom belong to unions; more than 95% of all blue collar workers and more than 75% of all white collar employees in Sweden are union members.
Organized labor has never enjoyed full acceptance in the United States. Many employers fear the effects of unions, and much of the public distrust them. Even among workers, support for unions is lower today than at any time during the past half century. The irony is that by comparison with unions in the industrialized West, the U.S. labor unions constitute one of the most conservative, least ideological labor movements. The U.S. labor movement traditionally has been committed to the capitalistic system and to the principle that management should have the primary responsibility for managing. Yet U.S. employers will pay millions of dollars to experts in "union avoidance" in order to maintain their nonunion status. According to Professor St. Antoine, in a contribution published in this Symposium, union workers generally find less satisfaction in their jobs than do similar nonunion workers. Why American unions face this opposition and distrust is an enigma.
About the Author
Christopher Osakwe. Eason-Weinmann Professor of Comparative Law; Director, Eason-Weinmann Center for Comparative Law, Tulane University.
Citation
58 Tul. L. Rev. 1291 (1984)