My hunch is that union membership decline correlated to the hopelessness over the futility of change workers felt over the decades. There was a "why bother - it's not going to do any good" attitude among workers. And for good reason. Unions acted like the very corporations they were challenging, more concerned with their bottom lines (pensions are invested in the markets) and leadership more willing to compromise than fight for workers. I do think workers are getting tired of empty promises and realize the extent to which their money and efforts have been devalued. The real shift in economy will come when workers cross industry, cross disciplines, march en mass under the umbrella of "the working class."
I think you're right about the stagnation of union power. Anti-union legislation combined with mob corruption and just plain-old selfish leadership left unions without anything to really provide their members. A lot of people logically thought, "why bother unionizing? It doesn't help me?" Thankfully, I do see that sentiment changing.
From my observer's perch, most of the drive (no pun intended) for representation is primarily coming from younger millennials and GenZ. They're done w/everyone's shit and not interested in "just making it work." And frankly a lot of labor leaders have become complacent or think it's still 1996 when it comes to organizng.
The leaders that buck that trend (Fain, AFA's Sara Nelson) lead the unions where workers will gain the most in the next 2-3 years. Hopefully, it knocks a few others out of their stupor (I'm looking at you IAMAW), and they follow suit.
I think you're exactly right, and I think more and more labor unions are trying to match the energy. I was approached by a Teamsters organizer once at an event, who wanted to make it clear they were moving past the "old" way of doing things and trying to build a more inclusive, young-focused organization. Hopefully it manifests into reality!
My hunch is that union membership decline correlated to the hopelessness over the futility of change workers felt over the decades. There was a "why bother - it's not going to do any good" attitude among workers. And for good reason. Unions acted like the very corporations they were challenging, more concerned with their bottom lines (pensions are invested in the markets) and leadership more willing to compromise than fight for workers. I do think workers are getting tired of empty promises and realize the extent to which their money and efforts have been devalued. The real shift in economy will come when workers cross industry, cross disciplines, march en mass under the umbrella of "the working class."
I think you're right about the stagnation of union power. Anti-union legislation combined with mob corruption and just plain-old selfish leadership left unions without anything to really provide their members. A lot of people logically thought, "why bother unionizing? It doesn't help me?" Thankfully, I do see that sentiment changing.
+1 to all of that.
Pensions became a sword companies can hang over labor's head like a sword of Damocles, and they know it.
From my observer's perch, most of the drive (no pun intended) for representation is primarily coming from younger millennials and GenZ. They're done w/everyone's shit and not interested in "just making it work." And frankly a lot of labor leaders have become complacent or think it's still 1996 when it comes to organizng.
The leaders that buck that trend (Fain, AFA's Sara Nelson) lead the unions where workers will gain the most in the next 2-3 years. Hopefully, it knocks a few others out of their stupor (I'm looking at you IAMAW), and they follow suit.
I think you're exactly right, and I think more and more labor unions are trying to match the energy. I was approached by a Teamsters organizer once at an event, who wanted to make it clear they were moving past the "old" way of doing things and trying to build a more inclusive, young-focused organization. Hopefully it manifests into reality!