The Future of Labor

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The Future of Labor

• by
• Patrick E. Rosenheim
• SOC901MAL Sociology of Work and Labor
• Professor Linda Conrad
• 5 March 2008

Also found online at http//nextstep.patrosenheim.
com
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Rooted in Labor

• Former CWA union steward
• Walked picket line for 17 weeks in 1989
• Alone
• Walked picket line for 2 weeks in 2000
• Alone most of the time
• Fired in 2001
• Union hall refused to take my calls
• for 1-1/2 years

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Living in the Past

• Doubling of national wealth
• Highest wages in the world
• Tremendous advances in longevity
• Huge declines in poverty
• Unions represented one-third of workforce
• Incomes grew fastest for lowest-income

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De-Unionization, Deregulation, and Decline

• After 1975, economic growth slowed
• Only the richest few have benefited
• CEO pay is 400 times average pay
• Hostile administrations weaken laws
• Tax cuts for the rich are undeserved
• Income inequality increases

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De-Unionization, Deregulation, and Decline
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De-Unionization, Deregulation, and Decline
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De-Unionization, Deregulation, and Decline
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Labors Response and Responsibility

• Unions helped create American middle class
• Bargained for health care
• Bargained for defined-benefit pensions
• Unions fought for the interests of all
• Labor leadership has stagnated
• Protectionism has thwarted growth

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Winds of Change
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Winds of Change

• change in the AFL-CIO is so long overdue that we
  either transform it or build something
  stronger.
• Morty Bahr, CWA president and AFL-CIO officer was
  quoted in that same story, saying Im not ready
  to tear down the institution in order to remake
  it.

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The Times They Are A-Changin

• "This is not the union that your father was in,
  this is the union of today."
• "we can't be a 1960's union fighting 2008
  corporations"
• "We negotiate for the good of the member, we also
  negotiate for the good of the company"

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Whats a Mother to Do?

• "And the vast sea of people who don't pay union
  dues wonder why they should care, if they wonder
  at all."
• "symptoms of the larger disease, and the larger
  disease is that 30 year all out coordinated
  economic and political attack on labor"

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What Have You Done for Me, Lately?

• educate the unenlightened about some of the
  societal advances made possible through union
  efforts
• Address worker apathy or complacency
• Agitate
• Educate
• Organize

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What Have You Done for Me, Lately?
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Just the Facts, Maam

• Here are a few more perks that are available to
• everyone that were made possible by unions
• Social Security
• OSHA
• Public Higher Education / GI Bill
• even non-union members benefited

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Where Do We Go Now?

• Implement income equality
• Tax fairly and equally
• National Health Care
• Re-tool Social Security
• Enact laws protecting worker rights
• Adapt to changing global landscape

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Works Cited

• Bernstein, Aaron. "Can This Man Save Labor?."
  Business Week 13 September 2004 80-88.
• Brown, Thomas. Personal interview. 24 February
  2008.
• Eisenbrey, Ross. "Much work to do to ensure
  future Labor Days brighter Post-WW II gains for
  all workers must be reclaimed."
  Economic Policy Institute. 04 September 2007.
  Economic Policy Institute. 27 Feb 2008
  lthttp//www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_viewp
  oints_much_wor kgt.
• Feeney, Paul. Personal interview. 26 February
  2008.
• Stern, Andy. A Country That Works Getting
  America Back on Track. New York Free Press,
  2006.
• Wypijewski, JoAnn. The Future of Labor. 03 July
  2005. Mother Jones Radio. 27 Feb 2008
  lthttp//feeds.feedburner.com/r/motherjones/radio
  /5/147819432/ MoJo070305_64kb.mp3gt.