Unions

Paper Summary:

Unions first caught the national imagination in 1869 with the foundation of three important unions: The Black National Labor Union, the first local Knights of Labor (in Philadelphia), and the Daughters of St. Crispin (first national female union). The paper shows, however, that organized labor had existed before that. Even before America was founded, powerful "guilds" protected skilled laborers. The paper questions why organized labor exists and what kind of power it wields. The paper shows that the answer to that question is in many ways ever-evolving and changing. The nature and needs for organized labor are constantly changing, as is the degree of power that they wield. About 70 years ago, for example, unions were relatively powerful and their interests mainly revolved around safe working places, living wages and so forth. They organized because they had to, for their own protection, because of the severity of working environments. The paper shows, however that unions today have far less power and though in many cases they organize for the same reasons, they are also concerned with globalization, privacy and advancement or investment rights and other concerns. Perhaps the simplest explanation for why labor becomes organized is that they are responding to the innate organization of the bosses and that their political clout is in direct reverse proportion to their expandability.

From the Paper:

"There are varying degrees of resistance which have been employed by labor, and the threat of which creates what political clout exists for labor. There is complete revolution, like that which has passed in many communist/socialist countries and is aimed at overthrowing both the capitalist system and the capitalist government. Additionally, labor can threaten active civil disobedience and striking by workers, even armed resistance. The third sort of threat is that of legal striking (organized or unorganized) and other legal pressures such as boycotting, which while less frightening are none the less debilitating. The fourth sort is purely political pressure, based in voting and other passive means to an end. The threat of these four sorts of resistance are enough to give labor some bargaining power when they come to the table."

More papers on Unions:

• Essay # 69775 : "History of Unions"
• Research Paper # 117189 : "Labor Unions"
• Essay # 88287 : "Labor Unions and Relevance"
• Analytical Essay # 90804 : "Labor Unions and American Education"

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