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The American WorkerToday & Tomorrow
I. Economic TransformationA. GlobalizationB. FlexibilityC. ServiceD. Shareholder ValueE. Impact
II. The “New” AFL-CIOA. Changing leadershipB. Policies
III. Mixed ResultsA. OrganizingB. ReformC. Politics
IV. Where do we go?
Globalization
• Free trade– NAFTA– WTO
• Outsourcing– Escape unions– Escape regulation
Shanghai Buick plant, 2003
Chinese Coca Cola ad
Service
• From 1994-1996, 38 percent of new jobs were in service
• WalMart becomes the nation’s largest private employer– 720,000 employees– ½ qualify for food
stamps
Las Vegas, 2005
Shareholder Value• Hostile takeovers of the
1980s lead to new emphasis on shareholders
• Led by Wall Street bankers
• Demands that CEOs cut wages
– Tie their salary to stock prices
• Gives them incentive to bust unions
Impact
• Risk– Income insecurity– No benefits, insurance– Debt, bankruptcy
• Wealth gap– 400 richest U.S. taxpayers earn $69 billion in
2000
Changing leadership• Kirkland
– Middle-class Southerner
– AFL research department
– Cold warrior
• Sweeney– New Yorker
– Ties to TWU, ILGWU
– Becomes leader of the Service Employees Intl. Union (SEIU)• Formerly corrupt
– Union gains 500,000 in 15 years
Fr. AFL-CIO pres. Lane Kirkland
AFL-CIO pres. John Sweeney
Policies• Organizing
• Inclusivity
• Politics
• Coalition-building
Former UMW president, Rich Trumka speaks at rally for
Sacramento janitors
Difficulties• Union
membership increased 265,000
• But percentage stays even at 14 percent
• But labor loses some key showdowns– California
Supermarket lockout, 2004-5California supermarket protest,
2004
Reforming the
Reformers
• Carey– Employs guilt by association– Convicted of union election
violations
• Hoffa– NostalgiaFr. IBT president, Ron
Carey
IBT president, James Hoffa, Jr.
Political Struggles
• Democrats refuse to adopt labor’s position on trade• Republicans appeal to workers through other
issues– Nationalism, guns, abortion