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| THE STATE OF THE AMERICAN WORKPLACE September 3, 1997 |
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Questions asked
in this forum:
What role will orgnaized labor play in the new workplace? How has technology changed the way we work? What is driving the increase in contingent workers? How prevalent are the golden parachutes given to CEOs? How do we improve the workplace atmosphere? Why do service jobs still pay so little?
NewsHour Backgrounders
August 22, 1997:
The NewsHour reports on Teamsters' President Ron Carey's election troubles.
August 20, 1997:
Paul Solman explores the fallout from the UPS strike on labor/management relations.
February 20, 1997:
John Sweeney, the newly elected president of the AFL-CIO, discusses the state of the labor movement.
February 20, 1997
Paul Solman leads a discussion on whether an unfettered economy is best.
October 21, 1996
Paul Solman explores the bud vase economy and the wage gap.
September 2, 1996:
The Online NewsHour and the NewsHour's regular panel of historians explore the history of labor day in separate reports.
May 14, 1996
The NewsHour reports on the debate in the Senate over the Teamwork Act.
March 25, 1996
The NewsHour historians examine the history of economic insecurity and economist Harris Sussman on coping with the modern workplace.
A question from Lisa Stohler of Lancaster, PA: What role do you see organized labor playing in the new American workplace? Can they adapt to growing part-time workers?
Edward Potter responds:
Organized labor will continue to lose members in the future. Peaking at 35 percent of the workforce in the 1950s, union membership has declined to less than 15 percent today, with only 10 percent of the private workforce unionized. The reasons for the decline are varied: increasing women's labor force participation, declining importance of the manufacturing sector, the retirement of many long-term union members, the increase in federal labor market regulation, and global competition are all considered factors. None of these trends show any sign of abating. Nor do younger workers and women -- the pool from which unions would like to recruit new members -- show much interest in becoming members.
Despite waning membership, unions will continue to exert a political presence. Unions collect several billion dollars each year, primarily through mandatory membership dues. Much of this money is directed towards political purposes -- some estimates put union political spending during the last election close to $1 billion. Almost all money spent by unions for political purposes goes to Democratic candidates despite the fact that approximately one third of all union members typically support Republican candidates.
Unions have not been particularly successful at attracting part-time workers. Part-time workers are about half as likely as full-time workers to belong to a union. However, since part-time work is not a growing share of the workforce (it has remained constant for almost 20 years), it is unlikely that part-time work will have much impact on union membership.
Dr. Walter Licht responds:
The question is, "Do we actually have a new American workplace?" The has been a great deal of hype about the "re-engineering" and "re-inventing" of the American workplace, but the jury is still out on whether anything has substantively changed. Are standard hierarchies still in place? Is most work still alienating? Since we are in a state of flux and possibly with just cosmetic changes, it is hard to predict the future place of unions. What's clear is that the role of unions in the the last twenty years has been reduced. And the future role will be greatly determined by the trade union movement's willingness to organize workers in the service and white collar sectors, and take on issues beyond wages, hours and fringe benefits, such as job definitions and improvements.
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