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Corruption of trade unions wrecked US labor movement
July 10, 2010, Saturday
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LAST year in Shaanxi Province there occurred an unusual incident in which some pensioners and jobless people set up a trade union independent of the trade union blessed by the state.
The "fake" union was later outlawed and dissolved, and Gu Dongwu, executive vice chairman of the provincial orthodox union, explained helpfully that the illegal attempt reflects workers' desire to have some entity in place that could really stand up for employee interests.
Gu warned that "the workers will reject the trade union if it continues to show a lack of initiatives to safeguard the worker interests."
When employees face frustrations over lower pay and poor working conditions, a truly representative union provides the fondest hope for effective collective bargaining.
Hope sometimes provides the best solace.
Our pioneering revolutionaries once shed blood for socialism and Communism. Their goal was to provide the best possible protection of the workers' and the general public's interest.
Robert Fitch's "Solidarity for sale: How Corruption Destroyed the Labor Movement and Undermined America's Promise" provides a timely damper on excessive zeal for embracing something as an "ultimate solution."
According to Fitch, self-interest, not solidarity, has been and remains the governing principle in the American union movement.
"Corruption has been built into the labor movement from its very inception," the book observes.
Corruption can be illegal sometimes, but nepotism and favoritism in hiring and promotion can be easily fostered.
American labor unions obviously supply ample nutrients for corruption.
Members pay dues to the union locals, whose business agents decide who will not work, who will and for what wages.
Like feudal barons, labor union leaders reward their loyal retainers.
"Because unions are supposed to stand for something besides the worship of the golden calf, union leaders can ... hurt us twice; first with the blow to our wallets, and then with the blow to our hearts," says Fitch, who joined the Laborers Union, Local 5, in Chicago Heights, Illinois, at the age of 15.
Thus, Al Capone was not the only thug who prospered through union racketeering.
Union local leaders can easily earn a salary of half a million dollars.
Labor unions have been known to extort payment from employers in return for lower employee wages, longer hours, and poorer conditions.
In New York City, three quarters of the garment shops unionized by UNITE have remained sweatshops. And UNITE has been romanticized in labor history.
Unions have also blocked various health care plans for fear their benefits would reduced the unions' competitive advantage. US unions seek only the welfare of their members.
"In America's century-long failure to produce a national health care system, organized labor looms as a major culprit," according to Fitch.
Among the costs of corruption are:
Dwindling union membership -- US union density is only about 8 percent in the private sector and 15 percent in public sector, and is falling.
Blunting the weapon of strikes. In 1952, there were 470 strikes by 2.75 million workers. In 1992, a mere 364,000 workers participated in 35 strikes. US strikes often pit members of one local against another.
Falling labor standards. American unions seem to be complicit in pushing wages down.
The author proposes a remedy for this deplorable situation.
"Perhaps it's not too late for one more great effort to reclaim the promise of American labor ... The outcome depends on a historic compromise: corporations must give up their resistance to worker representation, and unions have to give up their right to monopoly representation."
The message for China's increasingly restive cheap labor force is that, while unions hold the best hope of effective collective bargaining, employees united by their own self-interest may be easily manipulated by others with their own agendas.
There must be organizational and systematic guarantees to make unions honor their commitment first and foremost to workers.
The "fake" union was later outlawed and dissolved, and Gu Dongwu, executive vice chairman of the provincial orthodox union, explained helpfully that the illegal attempt reflects workers' desire to have some entity in place that could really stand up for employee interests.
Gu warned that "the workers will reject the trade union if it continues to show a lack of initiatives to safeguard the worker interests."
When employees face frustrations over lower pay and poor working conditions, a truly representative union provides the fondest hope for effective collective bargaining.
Hope sometimes provides the best solace.
Our pioneering revolutionaries once shed blood for socialism and Communism. Their goal was to provide the best possible protection of the workers' and the general public's interest.
Robert Fitch's "Solidarity for sale: How Corruption Destroyed the Labor Movement and Undermined America's Promise" provides a timely damper on excessive zeal for embracing something as an "ultimate solution."
According to Fitch, self-interest, not solidarity, has been and remains the governing principle in the American union movement.
"Corruption has been built into the labor movement from its very inception," the book observes.
Corruption can be illegal sometimes, but nepotism and favoritism in hiring and promotion can be easily fostered.
American labor unions obviously supply ample nutrients for corruption.
Members pay dues to the union locals, whose business agents decide who will not work, who will and for what wages.
Like feudal barons, labor union leaders reward their loyal retainers.
"Because unions are supposed to stand for something besides the worship of the golden calf, union leaders can ... hurt us twice; first with the blow to our wallets, and then with the blow to our hearts," says Fitch, who joined the Laborers Union, Local 5, in Chicago Heights, Illinois, at the age of 15.
Thus, Al Capone was not the only thug who prospered through union racketeering.
Union local leaders can easily earn a salary of half a million dollars.
Labor unions have been known to extort payment from employers in return for lower employee wages, longer hours, and poorer conditions.
In New York City, three quarters of the garment shops unionized by UNITE have remained sweatshops. And UNITE has been romanticized in labor history.
Unions have also blocked various health care plans for fear their benefits would reduced the unions' competitive advantage. US unions seek only the welfare of their members.
"In America's century-long failure to produce a national health care system, organized labor looms as a major culprit," according to Fitch.
Among the costs of corruption are:
Dwindling union membership -- US union density is only about 8 percent in the private sector and 15 percent in public sector, and is falling.
Blunting the weapon of strikes. In 1952, there were 470 strikes by 2.75 million workers. In 1992, a mere 364,000 workers participated in 35 strikes. US strikes often pit members of one local against another.
Falling labor standards. American unions seem to be complicit in pushing wages down.
The author proposes a remedy for this deplorable situation.
"Perhaps it's not too late for one more great effort to reclaim the promise of American labor ... The outcome depends on a historic compromise: corporations must give up their resistance to worker representation, and unions have to give up their right to monopoly representation."
The message for China's increasingly restive cheap labor force is that, while unions hold the best hope of effective collective bargaining, employees united by their own self-interest may be easily manipulated by others with their own agendas.
There must be organizational and systematic guarantees to make unions honor their commitment first and foremost to workers.
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