Trade Unions and the Betrayal of the Unemployed: Labor Conflicts During the 1990s

268 Pages·1998·12.192 MB·English

by  Immanuel Ness

GARLAND STUDIES IN
THE HISTORY
OF AMERICAN
LABOR
edited by
STUART BRUCHEY
ALLAN NEVINS PROFESSOR EMERITUS
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
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TRADE UNIONS AND
THE BETRAYAL OF
THE UNEMPLOYED
LABOR CONFLICTS
DURING THE 1990s
IMMANUEL NESS
GARLAND Bete INC.
A MEMBER OF THE TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP
New York & ioe 1998
Copyright © 1998 Immanuel Ness
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ness, Immanuel.
Trade unions and the betrayal of the unemployed : labor
conflicts during the 1990s.
p. cm. — (Garland studies in the history of American
labor)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8153-3179-7 (alk. paper)
1. Trade-unions—New York (State)—New York—History—
20th century. 2. Unemployment—New York (State)—New
York—History—20th century. 3. Labor disputes—New York
(State)—New York—History—20th century. I. Title. II. Series.
HD6519.N4N48 1998
331.89°09747’°09049—dc21
98-18640
Printed on acid-free, 250-year-life paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
List of Tables and Figures Vil
Preface 1x
Introduction Xili
Chapter 1: Trade Union Mobilization: Worker Power and
Organizational Strategy
Chapter 2: The Unemployed in Historical Perspective:
Opportunities and Challenges to Trade Union Power in
Nineteenth and Twentieth Century America VW
Chapter 3: Rising Unemployment and Declining Trade Union
Power in Four New York City Labor Markets 43
Chapter 4: Trade Unions and the Unemployed: From Formal
Responses to Crisis Management 73
Chapter 5: Organized Labor Responds to Rising
Unemployment 29
Chapter 6: Inclusive Labor Issue Coalitions on
Unemployment 153
Chapter 7: Hiring Halls and Workplaces: Trade Union
Organizing Strategies and Unemployment Practices 193
Appendix A: Methodological Notes 207
Appendix B: Interviews 213
Appendix C: Roster of Unions Participating in New York
Labor Campaign on Unemployment 217
Appendix D: Local 259 Survey of Unemployed Members 219
Appendix E: Key Unions Participating in The New York
Labor Campaign on Unemployment 224
Appendix F: Unemployment and Race in New York 229
References 241
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Tables and Figures
a Manufacturing Employment (000’s) in New York City
Compared to National Manufacturing Employment
1955-1993 48
a2 United States Trade Union Density by Industrial Labor
Market a2
33 Percent Organized in New York State and U.S. a2
322: Highest and Lowest Monthly levels of Employment
Construction and Manufacturing in New York City 54
4.1 Occupational Communities and Forms of Union
Political Action 114
6.1 Composition of Labor Coalitions 181
TA New York City Union Organizing Strategies and
Organizing Objectives 200
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Preface
While trade unions have an interest in mobilizing the unemployed
politically, they almost never do. The primary argument of this book is
that trade unions need to minimize unemployment to expand their
power against management and government. It is through mobilizing
the jobless for the expansion of unemployment insurance that unions
can lessen the threat of lower wages, reduced union density, and
accompanying weaker bargaining positions. The mobilization and the
formation of alliances with the unorganized unemployed would also
reduce divisions within the trade union movement between skilled and
unskilled workers. It is the argument of this book that despite these
advantages, trade unions have rarely organized the unemployed,
because they represent a potential threat to organizational control,
leadership, and legitimacy. Moreover, the interests of the unemployed
conflict with those of the securely employed trade unionists. This book
examines the problematic relationship between unions and the
unemployed in New York City during the early 1990s.
This book identifies three arenas of union responses to
unemployment: (1) autonomous trade union action; (2) joint trade
union action through established labor bodies; and (3) responses to
unemployment through ad hoc coalitions of trade unions and outside
activist organizations. It is hoped that the case studies examined in
this book will help expand and modify understanding of the role of the
relationships between trade unions and the unemployed by recognizing
the influence of organizing strategies. My research of unions in four
diverse labor markets in New York City suggests that hiring hall
unions produce exclusive organizing strategies that have deeper
accountability to their members but organizing objectives that are
1x
x Preface
limited to serving the narrow interests of core members. Conversely,
workplace-based unions typically engender class-oriented unions with
narrow accountability to members but deeper organizing objectives
that extend beyond immediate members.
Although I am solely responsible for the research and writing of
all the contents of this book, I would like to thank all those who helped
me in this endeavor. In particular I would like to thank the organizers,
trade union leaders, and jobless participants in the struggle to advance
the conditions of unemployed people in the seemingly hostile political
environment of the early 1990s. This struggle, which appeared to
come from nowhere contributed to a reexamination of the conditions
of unemployed men and women who are often left to bear the burden
of joblessness on their own. The political pressure of activists on
national, state, and municipal government levels contributed to a
reevaluation of federal policy on unemployment culminating in the
creation of new policies to improve the conditions of the long-term
jobless in November 1991. The jobless activists’ remarkable success in
helping to shape national political opinion that influenced federal
unemployment policy is a stark reminder of the enduring potential of
organization and mobilization in bringing about social change.
Conversely, the success of the mobilization of relatively few workers
also exposed the failure of the leaders of the organized labor
movement to mobilize members and non-members to defend and
improve the conditions of working people. In part, this recognition of
the moribund state of the labor movement helped to spur the changes
in AFL-CIO leadership that came in the mid-1990s. This book’s
objective is to analyze and identify the individual, organizational, and
structural causes that foster and prevent union efforts to organize
marginal workers.
One of my enduring regrets is that the heat of organizing is often
accompanied by disagreement, conflict, and misunderstanding. I
encountered personal and philosophical differences in my participation
in organizing efforts among the unemployed in New York City.
Nonetheless, I am forever grateful to colleagues and organizers who I
worked with to mobilize jobless workers in the early 1990s. In
particular, I would like to recognize Keith Brooks for his persistence
and dedication to organizing and defending the rights of the
unemployed. Keith set an example for countless labor and community
organizers who have known him by demonstrating the possibility of
winning organizing campaigns even against long odds.