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Labor sending message: 'We're back'
September 20, 1997
Web posted at: 10:13 p.m. EDT (0213 GMT)PITTSBURGH (CNN) -- At this week's biannual convention of the AFL-CIO in Pittsburgh, organized labor was anxious to spread this message: We're back.
"Two or three years ago, we were almost irrelevant," said Roger Tauss of the Transport Workers Union. "Now, there's more respect, and people understand our members are mobilized and they're active."
Fueling this buoyant mood was the recent victory of the Teamsters union over United Parcel Service. UPS workers drew strong public support during that strike.
CNN's Cynthia Tornquist reports.
Still, figures show that the percentage of American workers belonging to unions has dwindled to 14.5 percent, down from 35 percent in the 1950s.
Economists says that unless there is a reversal of this trend, the number of unionized workers may fall to less than 10 percent within the next 10 years.
Experts say three factors are contributing to the decrease in union membership:
- the automation of jobs;
- a global economy that has seen many jobs move overseas;
- the growth of the service sector.
"(The way) to avoid the union movement becoming basically a footnote, a minor player, is to move into the vast army of people who sit in front of (computer) terminals," says labor economist Ken Goldstein.
Union officials say they are broadening their organizing efforts in response to the new economy.
"The organization is going to take place in limousine and food and restaurant and apparel and white collar industries," says Brian McLaughlin of the New York Central Labor Council.
Still, some labor experts believe organizing may be difficult, particularly in the face of a work force that is more diverse and has more people working in part-time and temporary positions.
Another possible hurdle in labor's attempted renaissance may be recent allegations of election fraud aimed at Carey's campaign for Teamsters' president last year. A new election has been ordered because of fund-raising irregularities.
But Carey, who has not been implicated in the alleged fraud, says he is not worried that the scandal will affect the movement, even though labor's enemies may use it as a weapon.
"They don't want to see a strong union. They don't want to see leadership getting out there, saying it like it is, fighting for working people in this country," Carey said. "And I'm going to continue to do that."
Correspondent Cynthia Tornquist contributed to this report
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