Here are some interesting trends worth watching in the world of labor unions:
- "Minority unions", like Alliance @ IBM, whose long-term goal is the unionization of some or all of IBM's work force. Currently about 7,000 strong.
- Union democracy, as demonstrated by Carpenters for a Democratic Union and the Soldiers of Solidarity at Delphi.
- The use of union blogs to promote transparency within the union.
- The use of workplace blogs to organize a workplace, foment discussion about workplace issues, and distribute pro-labor talking points.
- Enlisting governors on the side of unions, particularly in childcare. Gov Vilsack in Iowa, Gov. Blagojevich in Illinois, and (if I recall correctly) Gov. Napolitano in Arizona have all recently used their power to facilitate unionization. On the other hand, the executive can significantly weaken unions too, as Gov Blunt did in Missouri.
- The use of a constellation of tactics, including community pressure, "sympathy strikes", card check and neutrality agreements, and the enlistment of pension funds in pressuring employers to desist from anti-union campaigns. All of these tactics were used successfully by SEIU in the Houston janitors campaign last year. A great article in Rebuilding Labor did a statistical studies of such "aggressive campaigns" and found them significantly more likely to succeed, even in the face of concerted employer opposition, than "weak campaigns" which involve only a small number of tactics.
