Neither Seen Nor Heard

Obama has made the first major call for unions to fight for a way out of the crisis in a more just way.

One of the most striking things in Spain, where 5 million people are unemployed — 40 percent, if we just take into account the people under 25 who want to work — is the virtual disappearance of unions as one of the main characters and social interlocutors. We hardly see any labor unionists on TV or radio talk shows. They do not appear in interviews; nobody writes about them in the opinion sections of digital or traditional papers. We do not hear from them; we do not see them.

From their point of view, they are being ignored. Any other analysis would suggest they lack skills to impose their presence within the public sphere, even when unemployment is being discussed. They are disreputable, and they seem to lose contact with reality, as if they were bureaucratized and demobilized. Most times, when their main leaders show up, we can see them with the president or the ministers, alongside managers, or in a few essential symbolic ceremonies taking place every season. That is to say, they are petrified.

It is not entirely a Spanish problem. It is clear that corruption cases affecting Spain’s main labor unions, the General Union of Workers, and to a lesser extent, The Workers’ Commissions do not help, so we must keep an eye on the opinions and analyses made by union representatives, who are not regarded with esteem.

The problem can also be found in almost every industrialized country, although not in the same way. In the Nordic countries and Germany, [the problem] fades away since the official presence of unions in companies and politics — the current Swedish prime minister being a unionist — makes their voice almost compulsorily heard in any sphere. However, if we set these peculiar cases aside, the truth is that unions have faced what seems to be the worst financial crisis in 100 years. They have even lost their prominence.

The causes are different and complex: The working environment has changed at breakneck speed in the developed countries. Millions of permanent jobs have disappeared or turned into part-time or temporary jobs. Employee turnover is much higher. Millions of self-employed workers exist now. In many cases, this brutal phenomenon is followed by cuts in labor law and an astonishing reduction of the gross domestic product in those countries.

Certainly, these are not easy circumstances. However, the stagnation of unions in countries such as Spain, where job and wage crises are so deep, is striking. As predicted by Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, if economic growth does not manage to reach the necessary levels to prevent economic stagnation in Europe, who will represent the interests of those who are self-employed, or those with temporary contracts, whose income is almost below the poverty line?

It is funny to see that it is in the United States, in the Western world, where the main appeal has been made for unions to be restored and achieve the bargaining power necessary to get out of the crisis in a more just way. In a recent speech, President Obama encouraged unions to gather more members and fight for a greater role in the same direction the companies and the economy are taking.

[We need] strong and flexible unions that understand what is happening. This is what David Rolf, 44, a young, polemical, and very active unionist is claiming. He is becoming popular in the United States by leading an almost door-to-door movement against low wages. Rolf has gotten unionists to stand up for the $15-an-hour minimum wage just when Obama raised it from $7.25 to $10.10.