WP: Labor Split Centers on Failure to Organize: Unions Struggle to Revive

[DeepModem Mom]

Labor Split Centers on Failure to Organize
Unions Struggle For Formula to Revive Movement

By Amy Joyce
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; Page D01


Inside or outside the AFL-CIO, convincing workers that joining a union will make life better is a tough sell.

Increasingly hostile employers, a legal structure that is increasingly anti-union, globalization and fierce competition all threaten labor's organizing attempts.

"You put all that together, and it has threatened not just the survival of unions, but unions as a powerful and political force," said Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who specializes in labor issues.

One of the strongest forces keeping unions from organizing workers is employers who are willing to play hardball to keep unions out, as Wal-Mart proved when it eliminated a store department after a few of its employees voted to join a union, and closed a Canadian store in another case rather than negotiate.

And some of the problems stem from the labor movement itself, which critics say has been slow to adjust to the changing economy....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072601755.html

[carnie_sf]

1. Labor needs to globalize

in the same way that capital has. And we all need to remember that labor's victories didn't come about as a result of the political process which has always been heavily slanted in the favor of capital. We need to be willing to bust some heads, and shut down some stores.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Globalizing labor -- a visionary idea that makes sense! nt

[xchrom]

3. they have to globalize -- indeed --

but i'd love to see concentration on some more of the better paying white collar jobs as well.

there's more out there than walmart.