bigmacbear (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bigmacbear) wrote2009-09-12 10:13 am
bigmacbear) wrote2009-09-12 10:13 am
Labor Strikes -- Epic Fail
First, a disclaimer. I am in a management position in which I may be called upon to fill in for a striking union member, while ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gmjambear has been a member of a different branch of the same union while employed at his previous job, and I have a brother-in-law who is a union machinist. I clearly have several competing biases on the topic. Nevertheless, in the interest of trying to clear up a highly charged political issue in my own mind, I write.
As much as I believe it should never have come to this, it's become clear to me that the chief weapon of organized labor -- the strike -- has proved to be an epic failure. Without the "nuclear option" of a strike, organized labor as a whole is left at a profound disadvantage in bargaining -- one with disturbing consequences for our standard of living, our economy as a whole, and perhaps even our national security.
Consider the following:
Kent Teachers' strike (ongoing as I write): A local school district is rebuffing teachers' demands for smaller class sizes by seeking and obtaining a court order forcing the teachers back to work on pain of heavy fines. Washington law is not as clear on the concept of teacher strikes as it is on fire and police strikes (which are prohibited under all circumstances), but every judge to rule on the issue has found teacher strikes to be illegal.
Judge: $200 daily fine on each striking Kent teacher
The Kent School District teachers' strike should be so over
Boeing Machinists' strike (September-October 2008): Machinists picket for eight weeks which happen to coincide with the worst economic panic the US has seen since the Great Depression; they eventually ratify a contract which is not markedly different from the one they rejected when they walked. In more recent news, Boeing threatens to move production away from Puget Sound to non-union plants elsewhere unless the union agrees to give up strikes in favor of binding arbitration, and one Boeing plant under consideration votes to decertify the union.
Machinists weigh what they gained in eight-week Boeing strike
Boeing Charleston decertifies Machinists union
Union vote makes Boeing threat real
Concessions: In many industries, the condition of the employer forces unions to accept what they can get, making striking unthinkable; this has been true historically with the steel industry and today with the auto industry, perhaps the last bastion of US and Canadian manufacturing in a global economy.
Autoworkers swallow a bitter pill
The reasons for the utter failure of the strike as a strategic weapon are many and varied.
As noted with the Kent teachers, striking is prohibited by law in many industries. In most instances, binding arbitration replaces the strike as a means of forcing a conclusion to negotiation when that is required. In the case of Washington teachers, that is not an option and the union is basically forced to accept whatever the school board presents, which is not fair to the teachers.
Moving on to the Boeing case, giving up the strike in favor of binding arbitration is probably a win for both parties, given the ineffectiveness of the strike. This can only happen, though, if the union can get past the emotional effects of having (what is in their opinion) their best weapon taken from them.
And in the current economy, in most instances striking is simply not an option, as companies on the brink simply fold up their tents and go away in bankruptcy.
So what is to be done to prevent employers from running roughshod over their employees while unions become increasingly impotent and striking unthinkable? Let me think on that a bit.
gmjambear has been a member of a different branch of the same union while employed at his previous job, and I have a brother-in-law who is a union machinist. I clearly have several competing biases on the topic. Nevertheless, in the interest of trying to clear up a highly charged political issue in my own mind, I write.As much as I believe it should never have come to this, it's become clear to me that the chief weapon of organized labor -- the strike -- has proved to be an epic failure. Without the "nuclear option" of a strike, organized labor as a whole is left at a profound disadvantage in bargaining -- one with disturbing consequences for our standard of living, our economy as a whole, and perhaps even our national security.
Consider the following:
Kent Teachers' strike (ongoing as I write): A local school district is rebuffing teachers' demands for smaller class sizes by seeking and obtaining a court order forcing the teachers back to work on pain of heavy fines. Washington law is not as clear on the concept of teacher strikes as it is on fire and police strikes (which are prohibited under all circumstances), but every judge to rule on the issue has found teacher strikes to be illegal.
Judge: $200 daily fine on each striking Kent teacher
The Kent School District teachers' strike should be so over
Boeing Machinists' strike (September-October 2008): Machinists picket for eight weeks which happen to coincide with the worst economic panic the US has seen since the Great Depression; they eventually ratify a contract which is not markedly different from the one they rejected when they walked. In more recent news, Boeing threatens to move production away from Puget Sound to non-union plants elsewhere unless the union agrees to give up strikes in favor of binding arbitration, and one Boeing plant under consideration votes to decertify the union.
Machinists weigh what they gained in eight-week Boeing strike
Boeing Charleston decertifies Machinists union
Union vote makes Boeing threat real
Concessions: In many industries, the condition of the employer forces unions to accept what they can get, making striking unthinkable; this has been true historically with the steel industry and today with the auto industry, perhaps the last bastion of US and Canadian manufacturing in a global economy.
Autoworkers swallow a bitter pill
The reasons for the utter failure of the strike as a strategic weapon are many and varied.
As noted with the Kent teachers, striking is prohibited by law in many industries. In most instances, binding arbitration replaces the strike as a means of forcing a conclusion to negotiation when that is required. In the case of Washington teachers, that is not an option and the union is basically forced to accept whatever the school board presents, which is not fair to the teachers.
Moving on to the Boeing case, giving up the strike in favor of binding arbitration is probably a win for both parties, given the ineffectiveness of the strike. This can only happen, though, if the union can get past the emotional effects of having (what is in their opinion) their best weapon taken from them.
And in the current economy, in most instances striking is simply not an option, as companies on the brink simply fold up their tents and go away in bankruptcy.
So what is to be done to prevent employers from running roughshod over their employees while unions become increasingly impotent and striking unthinkable? Let me think on that a bit.