Catherine Judge

Catherine was an easy pick for the judges. Besides being in the finalist pool for her essay, she was one of the finalists for our service scholarship. She'll be attending Queens College this year.

The descent of the Labor Movement has continued over the past few decades in the United States. Despite the recent successes of new organizing in unions like SEIU, Labor’s clout is in serious danger.

In addressing such a problem, it is necessary to first look at the factors attributing to the deterioration of the Labor Movement. The United States Congress quickly eroded accomplishments made by Labor with the passage of the Taft Hartley Act in 1947. The act gave more control to union leadership and set up bureaucratic structures, which took power away from the rank and file. Strikes of any kind were considered illegal and prevented solidarity actions with workers and communities. Grievances were no longer settled through direct action tactics, they were dealt with through a legal procedure as unions started to operate only within the confines of the law.

During the same time there was McCarthyism and blacklisting, and some of Labor’s greatest organizers were thrown out because of their “leftist” politics. Slowly, the political and class-consciousness of workers changed. Some unions began to morph into a business or service model in which the workers lost influence in the decision-making process. With the hostility towards leftist thinking, the notions of individualism shaped workers to think about themselves instead of solidarity with their peers.

 When unions failed to address issues that were affecting workers both inside and outside of the workplace, workers put their energy in other movements where they felt more represented. The Civil Rights and Women’s Movements were addressing discrimination in the workplace when most unions were actively trying to keep people of color and women out.

As union leadership persisted to hurt their own and prevented organizing potential members, the political climate of the United States became increasingly anti-worker.  The Labor Department and National Labor Relations Board continue to be grossly under funded and headed by people who are against unions. Neo-Liberal trade policies were implemented by the United States to encourage the lower prices of products which in turn resulted in de-industrialization, off-shoring, out-sourcing, and the massive loss of good paying jobs with benefits. Domestic policies within the United States, like “right to work” laws in southern states allows companies to move from areas with a high union density to the south where they can avoid unions.  Neo-Liberal policies also stimulates a surge in global migration which, in combination with harsh immigration policies, allows for a class of exploited workers lacking basic human rights, and difficult to organize under the threat of detainment and deportation.

            If Labor wants to gain strength in the United States, they need to remedy their history of discriminatory practices and encompass the intersections of oppression their members face.  A protocol within the union for accountability of union leadership and staff will ensure a process workers’ can trust. If discrimination is not recognized, and problems like nepotism continues, workers will resort to other actions such as starting their own group or center. This failure divides and conquers and hurts the solidarity of the movement.

Unions need to broaden their narrow focus, because when they only fight for higher wages and health benefits then they become nothing more than an insurance company. Workers need to be more invested and involved in their union, which can be encouraged through education, and opportunities for decision making such as worker led projects and campaigns.

            It is important to form community-labor coalitions that fight for rights in the workplace and in the communities in which the workers live. This idea is not new, for it was the reason for many successes in union organizing in the past. In the 1912 Lawrence, Massachusetts bread and roses struggle, the women and children in the community were essential to the workers’ achieving success. It was the unemployed that joined workers during the Great Depression that fought in the streets against company-funded gangs.

Issues such as affordable housing, public transportation, universal health care, welfare reform, childcare, immigrant, and domestic partnership rights all affect worker’s lives and should be recognized by the Labor Movement. Unions need to collaborate with social justice groups so they can violate injunctions, such as secondary boycotts, as a way for unions to circumnavigate the law.

Building leadership among youth and the rank and file, will shift power towards the workers and encourage a participatory democracy. Recognizing immigrant rights as worker rights and fighting against the anti-immigrant policies and the negative effects of globalization will help alleviate the struggles of the highly vulnerable undocumented workers.

 Lastly, it is important to incorporate youth in the labor movement, not only as future leaders or workers but as extraordinary organizers. It was the youth that utilized text messaging and social networking sites to organize and lead school walk-outs during May Day 2006, preventing the passage of HR4437, and helped fuel the immigrant rights movement.