Whither American Labor?

The state of the labor movement in the United States in the year 2013 makes for grim reading. Scarcely eleven percent of the labor force belongs to a union and fewer than seven percent of private sector workers do. Only public employees enjoy a significant union presence, and like unionized private sector workers, their greatest…

There is a story that I often use to make a point regarding one of the central problems in organized labor in the USA.  It goes like this: A man jumped off of the Empire State Building in New York.  As he was dropping past the 30th floor he was overheard saying “…so far, so good…” For more…

Union busting is nothing new; the atavistic trait was never bred out or beaten out of capital. While the business class fights among itself like stray cats— witness Dirty Digger Rupert Murdoch’s feral relations with communications rivals real and imaginary— that class also maintains a good deal of commonality on shaping the state and treating…

“It’s time for unions to stop being clever about excuses for why membership is declining and it’s time to figure out how to devise appeals to the workers out there. Workers should be looking to unions because of job insecurity and stagnant wages, but they are not.”  –Clark University Professor Gary N. Chaison as quoted in The…