America’s Unions No Longer Speak for the Workers

Published in Huanqiu
(China) on 15 November 2017
by Zhang Wenzong (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Yuzhi Yang. Edited by Tiana Robles.
Recently, Fuyao Glass Ohio employees voted 868 to 444 against forming unions at their factory. In the last few years, Fuyao Glass, American workers, American unions, and the topic of “Chinese companies’ experience with American unions” have converged into a hot topic in China.

American unions are a product of the American workers’ movement at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. The still active AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers, United Automobile Workers, and other unions all had great positive impact when they first began. By using measures such as organizing strikes, group negotiations, and lobbying the government, unions have been instrumental in protecting workers’ rights, such as increasing workers’ income, reducing work hours, and improving work environments.

Starting in the 1960s to the present day, American unions have shown some new trends. First, the percentage and number of union members have dropped drastically. While the American population has surged, union members have dropped from 17.7 million in 1983 to 14.6 million in 2016. The ratio of union members in the labor force has also dropped from 39 percent in 1955 to 10.7 percent in 2016, with only 6.4 percent of employees in private sectors belonging to unions.

Second, American unions have continued to merge and expand. For example, in order to meet new trends in economic and social development, United Steelworkers changed from just a union of steelworkers to a central union with workers in industries including steel, paper, forestry, rubber, manufacturing, energy, biochemicals and more, and actively sought to merge with unions in Canada, England and the Caribbean in order to promote “a globalization of the labor movement.”

After a long-term evolution, American unions have mutated; they have become enormous and influential interest groups, and their negative influence on America cannot be underestimated.

First of all, private sector unions have decreased American companies’ competitiveness, which is particularly noticeable in America’s “Rust Belt.” America’s Midwest used to be the heart of heavy industry before World War II, but began to decline after it turned into the Rust Belt, which was caused by the region’s powerful unions. These unions held a powerful stance on protecting member salaries and benefits, forcing businesses into not using advanced technologies to improve labor productivity and thus suffering increased labor costs. Overwhelmed, the businesses were forced to vote with their feet; they moved their operations to the American Southeast, the American South, or even overseas, where the unions were weaker, and the labor costs were lower, causing a lack of protection for the now unemployed workers.

Second, public sector unions have accelerated the American government’s debt. Unlike private sector unions, America’s civil employees, public school teachers, firefighters, police and other public employees belong to unions at a rate of as high as 35 percent. These unions are used to seeking all types of benefits for their members during labor negotiations. The management at public sector companies tends to give way during labor negotiations because it is not as invested in the organization’s profit. In addition, the unions use votes and campaigns as a giveaway to influence candidates seeking public office, forcing them to promise the protection of union benefits, to expand government spending, and to deliver on these promises after being elected. The out-of-control spending and ballooning debt in the American government is certainly related to this tendency.

Third, systemic problems and corruption at American unions means that these unions cannot speak for the majority. In “Solidarity for Sale: How Corruption Destroyed the Labor Movement and Undermined America's Promise,” author Robert Fitch analyzed the dark side of American unions. He pointed out how, within the federation of various American unions, there are more than 20,000 local unions whose budgets and actions are relatively independent. Many local unions’ predecessors were professional guilds and related to organized crime. From the start, such unions used extortion, blackmailed businesses, accepted bribes from business owners, had infighting, sold job opportunities, were controlled by gangs, embezzled membership dues, etc. Compared to unions in European countries, American unions also liked to push out immigrants and non-skilled workers, discriminate against African-Americans and women, and were used to fracture workers’ movements by colluding with businesses. It could be said that, in American society, where free competition is emphasized, the unions’ overall image is not great, and they fall short of representing the workers.

The author is director of the Political Research Office at the Institute of American Studies of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.


日前,福耀玻璃在美国俄亥俄州工厂的员工,以868票对444票否决了在该厂成立工会的动议。近年来,福耀玻璃和美国工人、美国工会的关系,以及由此引发的“中国企业遭遇美国工会”的话题,使美国工会成为国人关注的一个焦点。

  美国工会是19世纪末20世纪初美国工人运动的产物。至今活跃在美国的劳联-产联、美国钢铁工人联合会、美国汽车工人联合会等工会,在成立初期都曾发挥很大正能量。通过组织罢工、集体谈判、游说政府等手段,工会在提高美国工人收入、缩短工时、改善工作环境等方面有效维护了工人权益。

  上世纪60年代至今,美国工会发展呈现几个趋势。一是工会会员数量和比例大幅下降。在美国人口持续膨胀的同时,工会会员数量却从1983年的1770万下降到去年的1460万,工会成员在劳动力中所占比例从1955年的39%下降到2016年的10.7%,,其中私营部门工会会员只占工人总数的6.4%。

  二是不断兼并扩张。例如,为适应经济和社会发展新形势,美国钢铁工人联合会由单纯的钢铁工人工会发展成包含钢铁、纸业、林业、橡胶、制造业、能源和化工等行业工人的“总工会”,并积极与加拿大、英国和加勒比地区的工会合并,以推动“劳工运动的全球化”。

  但经过长期发展演变,美国的工会逐渐异化,已成为规模庞大、影响巨大的利益集团,对美国的负面影响不容低估。

  首先,私营部门工会削弱美国企业的竞争力。这在美国“铁锈带”表现得尤为明显。美国中西部二战前是重工业的心脏,后来沦为“铁锈带”而整体衰败,该地区强大的工会难辞其咎。工会在保障成员工资和福利上立场强硬,迫使企业既不敢采用先进工艺提高劳动生产率,又不得不承担只涨不跌的劳动力成本。不堪重负的企业只能用脚投票,大量汽车、轮胎、玻璃等行业的企业向工会力量薄弱、劳动力成本更低的美国东南部、南部甚至海外转移。失业工人的利益难以得到保障。

  其次,公共部门工会加剧美国政府的债务问题。与私营部门的工会不同,美国的公务员、公立学校教师、消防员、警察等公共部门雇员加入工会的比例高达35%左右。这类工会在劳资谈判中同样为会员谋求各种福利。

由于公共部门的主管不像私营业主那样有切身利害关系,比较容易在谈判中让步。加之工会利用选票和竞选捐赠,影响谋求竞选公职的候选人,迫使其承诺保障工会权利、扩大政府支出,并在当选后兑现。当前美国政府开支失控、债务膨胀,与此不无关系。

  再次,体制问题和腐败导致美国工会无法为最广大人民代言。罗伯特·费奇在《出卖团结:腐败如何摧毁劳工运动、破坏美国承诺》一书中,系统分析了美国工会的阴暗面。他指出,在美国的工会联合会下,存在着两万多个经费与活动相对独立的地方工会。很多地方工会的前身是行会,与黑社会多有瓜葛。工会从开始形成起,就伴随着敲诈和勒索企业、接受企业主贿赂、内讧、出售就业机会、黑帮掌控、盗用会费等丑闻。

与欧洲等国的工会相比,美国工会还具有排挤移民和非熟练工人、歧视非洲裔和女性、习惯与资方合作瓦解工人运动的传统。可以说,在强调自由竞争的美国社会,工会的总体形象并不好,其在工人中的代表性也明显不足。(作者是中国现代国际关系研究院美国所政治研究室主任)
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1 COMMENT

  1. Given the union busting that has happened in North America, especially the US, we ought to be surprised that there’s anything left that calls itself a union. I guess these leftovers are in pure survival mode.