Subject: Labor Unions

Compiled by Susan LaCette.LaborUnions.pdf: 3728 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

U.S. Government Manual 2008-2009 Edition: National Labor Relations Board

[Excerpt] The National Labor Relations Board is vested with the power to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions and to safeguard employees’ rights to organize and determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative

Unions and the City: Negotiating Urban Change

[Excerpt] Labor unions remain the largest membership-based organizations in major North American cities, even after years of decline. Labor continues to play a vital role in mobilizing urban residents, shaping urban conflict, and crafting the policies and regulations that are transforming our urban spaces. As unions become more involved in the daily life of the city, they find themselves confronting the familiar dilemma of how to fold union priorities into broader campaigns that address nonunion workers and the lives of union members beyond the workplace. If we are right to believe that the future of the labor movement is an urban one, union activists and staffers, urban policymakers, elected officials, and members of the public alike will require a fuller understanding of what impels unions to become involved in urban policy issues, what dilemmas structure the choices unions make, and what impact unions have on the lives of urban residents, beyond their members.Unions and the City serves as a road map toward both a stronger labor movement and a socially just urbanism. The book presents the findings of a collaborative project in which a team of labor researchers and labor geographers based in New York City and Toronto investigated how and why labor unions were becoming more involved in urban regulation and urban planning. The contributors assess the effectiveness of this involvement in terms of labor goals―such as protecting employment levels, retaining bargaining relationships with employers, and organizing new workforces―as well as broader social consequences of union strategies, such as expanding access to public services, improving employment equity, and making neighborhoods more affordable. Focusing on four key economic sectors (film, hospitality, green energy, and child care), this book reveals that unions can exert a surprising level of influence in various aspects of urban policymaking and that they can have a significant impact on how cities are changing and on the experiences of urban residents

Who is afraid of capital mobility? On labor taxation and the level of public services in an open economy

This paper deals with the impact of international capital mobility on labor taxes and the size of the public sector. It employs a model of the labor market, where national trade unions arc able to set wages above the competitive level. In a closed economy, a higher labor tax raises wage demands of the unions and thus increases the distortion on the labor market. With perfect international capital mobility, competition between trade unions leads to full employment, irrespective of the labor tax rale. The distorting effect of the labor tax vanishes and governments arc able to increase the supplied quantity of public services to the first best level.Capital Mobility,Labor Taxation

Who Will Build the Future?

[Excerpt] The construction unions\u27 crisis both preceded and contributed to the general decline of organized labor. At the time concessions became a household word in manufacturing, building trades workers had already endured five years of wage freezes and cuts. Just as construction unions helped set standards in the past for wages, hours and political muscle for the entire labor movement, the rise of the open shop in construction was the opening salvo of an all-out assault on the house of labor in the 1970s and \u2780s. Since World War II, building trades unions generally marched to their own tune, cementing their power locally and nationally, and often appearing indifferent to the fate of other sectors of the workforce. But their current crisis has evaporated the reigning sense of complacency and has forced union leaders to reconsider adopting the traditions of militancy and activism that built their organizations a hundred years ago. Drawing on some of the recent innovations throughout the labor movement, building trades unions are currently more receptive to new initiatives than at any time in the past 50 years

Labor Markets and Monetary Union; a Strategic Analysis

This paper analyzes the macroeconomic consequences of the establishment of a monetary union in the presence of unionized labor markets. It is shown that the effects of the formation of a monetary union depend on several labor market features, such as the degree of centralization of wage bargaining, labor unions' inflation aversion and the degree of substitutability between the labor of different unions. In particular, the switch from national monetary policies to a unified monetary policy usually affects both inflation and unemployment, even when all structural parameters of the economy and of unions' and policymakers' preferences remain the same. The benchmark case of a monetary union between identical countries suggests that the switch to a monetary union is likely to make labor unions more aggressive, increasing unemployment. Qualifications to this result are provided and their robustness is investigated under alternative structural assumptions, like crosscountry asymmetries, (preunion) ERM membership and wage leadership.

China Employment Law Guide, 2013

[Excerpt] This is a remarkable time for labor and employment law in China. The Employment Contract Law, which became effective on January 1, 2008, significantly changed the relationship between employer and employee to bring China more in line with international standards. Further, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the umbrella organization for all labor unions in China, has promised to continue its campaign to unionize foreign-invested enterprises. Its stated goal is next to pressure companies to sign collective contracts, including collective wage agreements, with their labor unions. As a result of these developments, employers must develop better methods to manage their workforce and labor costs. Companies must be aware of the key legal challenges in China. Failure to do so can lead to significant financial, legal, and reputational risks. We hope that this Employment Law Guide will help you to navigate successfully the challenges ahead

Organizing Women: The Nature and Process of Union Organizing Efforts Among U.S. Women Workers Since the mid-1990s

The relationship between American working women and the U.S. labor movement can neither be easily described nor categorized. In part, this is because women’s participation and experience in the labor movement differ so greatly across industry, region, union, occupation, and ethnic background. But mostly, it is a consequence of the inevitable contradictions that arise when the proportion of women in the labor movement continues to grow at an escalating pace, whereas for most unions and labor federations, the proportion of women in top leadership and staff positions has increased incrementally at best, even in unions where women predominate

Executive Compensation in American Unions (CRI 2009-007)

Studying compensation in the nonprofit sector is difficult. In nonprofit organizations, it is not always clear what the objectives of the organization are and, therefore, perhaps even more difficult to consider how to compensate managers than in the for-profit sector. This paper investigates the determinants of executive compensation of leaders of American labor unions. We use panel data on more than 75,000 organization-years of unions from 2000 to 2007. We specifically concentrate on two issues of importance to unions – the level of membership and the wages of union members. Both measures are strongly related to the compensation of the leaders of American labor unions, even after controlling for organization size and individual organization fixed-effects. Additionally, the elasticity of pay with respect to membership for unions is very similar to the elasticity of pay with respect to employees in for profit firms over the same period

The Making of a Pro-Labor Mayor

[Excerpt] One of the most important functions of central labor councils (CLCs) is making electoral politics work for labor. While the issues that a CLC tackles need to be linked to a national labor agenda, which includes fighting against privatization, securing a living wage, and promoting unions, the actual struggles take place on a local level. An effective council needs to listen to and develop consensus around the issues of concern to its member unions and then endorse those candidates who will be most supportive and effective at addressing those issues. After a candidate is elected, CLCs need to continue to have a political presence. Ideally, CLCs use electoral politics to build community alliances, understand power relationships, and wield political power in a way that builds the labor movement. Our success in the Atlanta mayoral election shows that a CLC with active affiliates can change the course of an election and forward labor\u27s agenda after an election. The stakes of the mayoral race were high: labor had the potential to stop privatization; strengthen construction unions; secure the jobs related to the 1996 Olympics for union workers; and demonstrate labor\u27s power and electoral muscle. We needed a decisive victory and the CLC had to deliver