July 26, 2005

More on the marginalization of (very) Old Labor...

The WSJ's OpinionJournal.com has an excellent analysis of yesterday's move by several large unions to break away from the AFL-CIO, creating two opposing forces trying to control the future direction of Big Labor:

"What's missing on both sides, however, is a vision of economic opportunity that might actually make workers want to join a union in the first place. Tactics aside, both factions continue to believe in the idea of unions that arose in the Industrial Age: Greedy management versus the exploited working man, seniority over flexibility, fixed benefits and strike threats over working with management to keep a U.S.-based company profitable and innovative in a world of growing competition. On the political front, both factions favor trade protection, higher taxes and government help to enforce restrictive work rules. This is the agenda of Old Europe, where jobless rates are above 10%, and it merely offers more economic insecurity in the U.S. as well.

What the labor movement really needs is a new generation of leaders who understand the emerging competition to U.S. workers from the likes of India and China. Rather than oppose imports to protect textile jobs that can't be saved, such leaders would work to reform education so future Americans can compete in the knowledge industries that will grow the fastest. They'd also work to make pensions and health insurance transportable from company to company, so a worker wouldn't be trapped by benefits in a job or industry he didn't like. They'd be partners with management, not antagonists."

As union leadership grows more out of touch with union membership, more and more workers are finding the attraction to these organizations to be nothing more than a dead end.

Posted by: Gary at 09:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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