Over the decades, such decisions by the NLRB and the courts steadily increased employers’ power to weigh in on elections and curtailed workers’ right to form unions. In contrast, other employment laws, such as civil rights laws, provide much greater penalties and provide for a private right of action so workers can bring cases on their own and collect attorneys’ fees if they prevail (Weil 2005). As such, the decline of private-sector unionism provides a classic example of what political scientists call “policy drift”: Drift occurs when a policy or institution is not updated to reflect changing external circumstances, and this lack of updating causes the outcomes of the policy or institution to shift—sometimes dramatically. For example, it added language that became known as the “employer free speech” clause, affirmatively stating that an employer’s expression of views regarding unionization is not prohibited unless the employer’s statement contains an offer of benefit or threat of reprisal if workers choose to unionize..xii Employers relied on this language to engage in anti-union campaigns in ways that were previously found illegal under the Wagner Act, for example through extensive use of forced-attendance company meetings against the union, or “captive audience” meetings, a practice that was professionalized (via a new anti-union consultant industry) and used extensively in the 1970s. Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, the Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike that Changed America. We assumed that about 10 percent of workers had been organized outside these procedures in earlier years, and ended up with a scaling factor of 30 percent. He opined: Nothing the Court holds today should be understood as imposing a duty to bargain collectively regarding such managerial decisions, which lie at the core of entrepreneurial control. Injunctions against unions for alleged secondary activity grew from 17 in 1948 (the first year such injunctions were authorized) to 127 10 years later. How to Determine if Your City or County Complied with the Law When Increasing Pension Formulas, Transparent California (co-founded by CPC, now owned and operated by NPRI), https://californiapolicycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/LOGO_v2_white_269x70.png, The Differences Between Public and Private Sector Unions. Union Membership Ticks Up In The Private Sector. Obviously, there’s 1 million, and then realizing, like that. Prior to the rise of public sector unions in the 1960s and ‘70s, a number of courts across the nation routinely observed the dissimilarities between public-sector and private-sector collective bargaining. This paper provides background for the consideration of changes in labor law by addressing the question: Why have union membership and union coverage (membership plus those covered by collective bargaining, even if not members) declined so precipitously in the private sector? Jackson, Gordon E. 1981. Can you relate to the AXS. 4: 560-75. Through the years, there has been a long term decline in the number of union members in the private sector. Gross, James. Sources: For the years 1973–1981 the May Current Population Survey (CPS); for the years 1983-2019 the CPS Outgoing Rotation Group (ORG) earnings files. RC cases are: “A petition by a labor organization or employees for certification of a representative for purposes of collective bargaining under section 9 (c) (1) (A) (i).” RM cases are: “A petition by employer for certification of a representative for purposes of collective bargaining under section 9 (c) (1) (B).” R cases are: “A petition for certification of a representative for purposes of collective bargaining with an employer under section 9 of the National Labor Relations Act, prior to amendment.” These are carryovers from pre-Taft-Hartley elections. Anti-union consultants instructed clients in how to avoid unions completely, often by opening nonunion facilities, hiring people who were the least likely to unionize, and by being perfectly clear that the company philosophy was nonunion. The average for each decade are presented in Appendix Table B. 2009. “Union Organizing: New Challenges and Prospects.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 473 (May): 96-107. Search through thousands of articles, research, and policy papers. 1984. The evidence presented here so far has focused on data indicating that union decline goes much beyond what has occurred in the sector most impacted by globalization, manufacturing. & Org. Nationalist : This area of ideological differences between public and private sector unions is perhaps the least mentioned, and the most subject to overlap and ambiguity. This gives us our counterfactual estimate for that year. lxii. packaging, blister packaging. Second, U.S. corporations, which were the world’s economic leaders in the years after World War II, faced more global competition as countries like Germany and Japan got back on their feet. In addition to the rights discussed above (concerning ways to limit your association with the union), you should also remember that private sector employees covered by the NLRA have the right to seek a “deauthorization” election, which completely nullifies the compulsory unionism clause in the collective bargaining contract and eliminates ALL dues requirements. Public-sector union membership, however, has remained fairly constant over time; in 2015, there were 7.2 million public-sector union members, 1.5 million more than in 1983. Last, an examination of international comparisons of union erosion also confirms a minor role for manufacturing decline, finding that the pace, intensity, and timing of union decline does not correspond to manufacturing’s decline. The dependent variable is union coverage and the explanatory variables (mostly dummy variables) are gender (and marital status); occupation (22 categories); race/ethnicity; education (five categories); age (six categories); state (50 plus D.C.); and industry (12 categories). Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This highly readable volume is a state-of-the-art survey by internationally recognized experts on the effects and future of labor unions. It will be the benchmark for years to come. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Affairs. In economics discussions this means that union decline is a symptom, not a cause, of wage inequality, with globalization and automation the real culprits behind both wage inequality and deunionization. The 1977 Quality of Employment Survey: Descriptive Statistics, with Comparison Data from the 1969-70 and the 1972-73 Surveys. Groshen, Erica L., and Harry J. Holzer. For more information on this option, click here. The Supreme Court characterized the decision made by the employer as “involving a change in the scope and direction of the enterprise,” which the court said “is akin to the decision whether to be in business at all.” The court concluded: …the harm likely to be done to an employer’s need to operate freely in deciding whether to shut down part of its business purely for economic reasons outweighs the incremental benefit that might be gained through the union’s participation in making the decision, and we hold that the decision itself is not part of 8(d)’s “terms and conditions” over which Congress has mandated bargaining. Even since the last edition of this milestone text was released six years ago, unions have continued to shed members; union membership in the private sector of the economy has fallen to levels not seen since the nineteenth century; the ... “Permanent Replacements and the End of Labor’s ‘Only True Weapon.’” International Labor and Working-Class History 74, no.1: 171-92. But the practice of permanently replacing strikers “sharply increased” in 1975 and became a much more prominent practice in the 1980s (LeRoy 1995; Stelzner 2017; Logan 2008). It would be odd indeed if public bureaucrats and their unions did not invest in this kind of reverse control—and there is ample evidence that they do. Events In addition, workers began to lose elections at a higher rate in the 1970s in the face of increased employer resistance. Communications Workers, 59 F.3d 1373 (D.C. Cir. Smith, GA, Goldsboro, N.C., November 8, 1979, file 19, box 8, Alan Kistler Papers, GMMA. Third, the rate of profit for private business fell by 29% between 1965 and 1973, and among manufacturers it fell by more than 40% (Brenner 2006). The tool employed in each defeat was the filibuster, spearheaded by a minority of senators representing an even smaller share of the population. xxxvii. 2020. 3: 260–80. Fourth, employers increasingly found an ally in the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued a series of decisions restricting workers’ rights and limiting employers’ bargaining obligations. Prior to 1964, employers were permitted to proactively lock out employees (called an offensive lockout) in two narrow circumstances: (1) where the employer was part of multiemployer bargaining and the union was striking one employer in an effort to force other employers into agreeing with the union’s demands, a practice known as whipsawing, and (2) in situations where the employer reasonably believed a strike was imminent. Government union members could outnumber private-sector union members as early as this year. Although the air traffic controllers’ strike was illegal, Reagan nevertheless established a new norm for employer behavior (McCartin 2006). 2: 238-57. Levitt, Martin Jay, and Terry Conrow. In 1941 the Supreme Court decided that employers could weigh in during elections as long as they were not “coercive,” but the board’s enforcement remained vigorous in this period and workers were still routinely able to form unions. Becker, Craig. The LLRG soon merged with two other employer groups in 1972 to form the Business Roundtable, which began to successfully win its proposed changes, largely through litigation before the NLRB.xv. Cambridge, Mass. Fisk, Catherine L., and Adam R. Pulver. The recession battered two industries with high union density - manufacturing and construction - leading to a decline in private sector union membership from 7.6 percent to 7.2 percent of all . x. NLRB annual reports, 1970-1980, Tables 2 and 4. Unions can lift wages, reduce inequality and shape how work is . Much of the anti-union consultants’ work, however, came after workers already showed interest in a union. In these later years there were 3,083 new members each year, though the average was particularly inflated by the 17,000 new members in 2013. . “The Eyes of the Needles: A Sequential Model of Union Organizing Drives, 1999-2004.” Industrial & Labor Relations Review 62, no. Membership went from 375,163 to 419,603. A trade union is an organisation with members who are usually workers or employees. Douglas Soutar, interview with Shelly Coppock, Litchfield, Ariz., November 16, 1990, transcripts #5843 OHT, NLRB Oral History Project II, Kheel Center for Labor Management Documentation & Archives, Catherwood Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. viii. Yet, research by Terry Moe (22 J.L. Board of Directors Each of these decisions significantly weakened workers’ bargaining power. For example, in 1968, California passed the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act — a law granting local-government workers bargaining rights — and then extended those rights to teachers a few years later; in the 1970s and ’80s, both membership in public-sector unions and the number of strikes in California skyrocketed. The Hamilton Project finds that the decline in private sector union membership is economically important for the future of labor. and Ph.D. in U.S. history from the University of Maryland and a B.A. “Oral Testimony of James Campbell Little: ACB Field Hearing Before the ABI Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11, at 35, Mar. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Year to year, Oregon's union membership trend fluctuates. The second condition paving the way to public sector unionization and collective bargaining was economic and demographic change, particularly with respect to the increased demand for teachers in the wake of the Baby Boom. To address social welfare costs, employers began to move to a lower-cost employment model in which they could avoid providing security and social welfare to their employees; these moves included hiring more temporary and part-time workers, shifting to subcontractors, and driving down wage and benefit standards. Found insideThis book offers an extensive survey and synthesis of the economic literature on trade unions and collective bargaining and their impact on micro-and macro-economic outcomes. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. A close look at union elections and first contracts in these years is revealing. Marvit (2016), who employed various sources to track lockouts and strikes between 1990 and 2015, found that, though lockouts declined over the period, from 32 in 1990 to 13 in 2015, the decline in strikes was greater. Freeman also examined Gallup polling back to 1947 and found that the majority of the public “approved of unions,” far more than those who “disapprove of unions,” over the entire postwar period. For the years 1950–1963 we use the BLS series EEU00500003 and for 1964 and later years we use BLS series CEU0500000006. “Trade Liberalization and Mortality: Evidence from U.S. Counties.” Working Paper No. In its early years, the law’s enforcement agency, the NLRB, required employers to remain neutral on the issue of a union, leaving the choice on collective bargaining solely up to the employees involved. Union Membership — Private vs. Public Sectors. Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer—and Turned Its Back on the Middle-Class. Estlund, Cynthia. A Republican Congress, urged on by employers wanting to curtail unions’ power, successfully revised the Wagner Act with the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, passing it over a presidential veto. The 1983 and 2019 data are from Hirsch and MacPherson (2020) tabulations of CPS data. “The Declining Worker Power Hypothesis: An Explanation for the Recent Evolution of the American Economy.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity Conference, Washington, D.C., 2020. Data on National Labor Relations Board elections are available in annual NLRB reports for each year from 1950 to 2009. 2017. Internationalist vs. The second employment measure is from the establishment survey and is the number of private-sector production and nonsupervisory workers (roughly 82% of all workers). Pressure in Today’s Workplace, Volumes I-III. Moreover, the years between 1973 and 1977 represent the peak in absolute numbers of NLRB elections held (see the appendix), and women and people of color were at the forefront of much of this labor activism. Kilgour, John G. 1982. We can measure union election win rates in two ways, by elections and by voters, and there was a decline in both cases. Voter and election counts in elections where workers chose collective bargaining are not available for RC cases in the 1950–1963 period but are available for all CB cases. Therefore, organizing outside of the NLRB procedures has no bearing on our key results of the erosion of unionization that occurred between the late 1960s and late 1970s. 2019. “Do Workers Still Want Unions? The power and benefit of its kind who has the Best Ideas very public example of President replacing. As early as this year internet publishing and broadcasting ; wired telecommunications ; and other unions fewer. Dependent variables, union coverage by only 2.5 percentage points sides of the Social Sciences 5, no workplace which! V. Babcock & Wilcox, 351 U.S. 105 ( 1956 ), just watch this 4minute for. 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