Unions struggle to regain muscle
By Joe Guy Collier, Jewel Gopwani and Margarita Bauza
Detroit Free Press
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DETROIT — Cliff Green was leaving work a year ago when a union organizer handed him a leaflet for a rally.
Green, a 26-year-old Detroit janitor, normally would have discarded the flier, but he had just learned he was about to become a father again. He was drawn to the union message of a better living, job security, benefits and health insurance.
Green attended the rally, joined the union and set out to evangelize, signing up new members for the budding Service Employees International Union Local 3.
"I saw an opportunity to negotiate not just my paycheck, but my livelihood," said Green, a single father of two.
As unions face declining membership, experts say the labor movement needs more recruits like Green if it hopes to thrive again.
Unions must convince a new generation of workers that unions can deliver tangible benefits, experts say. They have to reach out to new groups — young workers, students, immigrants, day laborers and service-sector employees.
"That is absolutely the future and the vitality of the labor movement," said Harley Shaiken, a labor relations professor at the University of California-Berkeley.
Without a broader reach, unions face a tough road ahead. The trends are not good.
At the end of 2005, union members made up 12.5 percent of the U.S. work force and 20.5 percent of the Michigan work force, about half the level of 30 years ago, according to recently released Census Bureau data and historical data compiled by UnionStats.com.
Union ranks are being thinned even further by buyouts and bankruptcies that likely will cut tens of thousands more jobs.
"The trend is real; the crisis is immediate and urgent," Shaiken said.
LESS SAY FOR WORKERS
The danger, labor experts say, is that as unions decline, workers have less say in what their employers do to cut costs.
Companies increasingly are cutting benefits. The percentage of workers covered by employment-based health insurance has fallen for five straight years, from 63.6 percent in 2000 to 59.5 percent in 2005, according to census data.
In the past five years, the percentage of workers "very concerned" about job security has risen from 26 percent in 2000 to 45 percent in 2005, according to a Rutgers University survey.
"Workers with union representation have much more of a voice in what's going on than without union representation," said Gary Chaison, professor of management at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. But unions are up against powerful forces:
UAW DOWN ONE-THIRD
The UAW, one of the most visible unions in the United States, is an example of what's happening in the manufacturing sector. With 550,000 members, the UAW is about one-third the size it was in the late 1970s and figures to lose more members in the next few years.
Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. are cutting about 30,000 hourly workers each. Dozens of Michigan-based auto suppliers, including Delphi Corp., Collins & Aikman Corp. and Tower Automotive Inc. are working their way through bankruptcy court and looking to cut their hourly work force.
Jason Craig, a 33-year-old UAW worker at a Chrysler Group warehouse in Warren, Mich., said he hates to see union strength fall in Michigan, a key beachhead in the labor movement for more than 100 years.
Craig, who has five uncles and a brother-in-law in the UAW, frequently hops out of his Dodge Ram to join the picket lines of other unions.
"I don't care if they're picketing a lemonade stand," Craig said. "I'm going to get out and walk with them."
Tough times make it even more important for workers to stick together, he said. "Management is going to try to take as much advantage of us as possible," Craig said.
But unions need their message to reach beyond loyalists such as Craig, experts say.
"Only a small proportion of the work force might find unions to be relevant to their needs," Chaison said. "There's a need to broaden the scope of what can be offered."
That could include training, discounts on insurance and lobbying for those who aren't covered by labor pacts, he said.
SHIFTING FOCUS
Unions also must shift their focus to new industries where workers need a voice, experts say.
While manufacturing unions are taking a hit, a bright spot for union growth can be found in the service sector, said Ruth Milkman, director of the Institute for Industrial Relations at the University of California-Los Angeles.
From 2000 to 2005, the Service Employees International Union, which represents workers in fields such as maintenance, health care support and food preparation, increased membership 10 percent to 1.5 million, according to filings with the U.S. Department of Labor.
In many ways, service unions are having success because they're fighting for the same issues — decent wages, basic benefits and some sense of job security — that manufacturing workers faced decades ago.
"The center of gravity of the whole labor movement has changed," Milkman said.
Labor experts aren't predicting an upsurge in union membership anytime soon, but they say conditions can change swiftly.
"I do think the basic conflict of interest between employers and employees is still there," said Milkman. "Workers are going to look for effective forms of representation for their interest."
MOBILIZING ISSUES
Unions, on the decline for more than 30 years, are searching for ways to rally support. Issues that could make unions more relevant include:
Service industries: Service workers, such as janitors and food preparers, often work odd hours with low pay and few benefits. They have good reasons to organize and the public may be sympathetic to their plight.
Immigrant workers: A once-quiet part of the U.S. economy, immigrants — both legal and illegal — are becoming more vocal in demanding fair treatment. A series of marches earlier this year was reminiscent of the labor struggles of the 1930s.
Sense of dignity: While workers have more rights and benefits than 30 years ago, many still don't feel respected by their companies. Unions offer employees a voice.
Healthcare: Companies are whittling away at healthcare benefits offered employees or are asking them to pay more for their coverage. This could become a sore spot with workers.
