Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

New strategies in union organizing

  • Articles
  • Published:
Journal of Labor Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The AFL-CIO has called for new and more effective approaches in organizing. This paper reviews the classical organizing model and then identifies four strategic approaches to organizing that have been developed or re-emphasized in recent years including the corporate power strategy, the collective bargaining strategy, community acceptance and integration strategy, and the coordinated/pooled resource strategy. Factors affecting the use and success of these strategies are discussed. It is concluded that while some have promise, their limited use and mixed outcomes will probably minimize their significance in union organizing during the 1980’s.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bambrick, James J., Jr., and Stieglitz, Harold. “White Collar Unionization: Case Study: OEIU Organizing Campaign.” Reprinted in Jack Barbash ed.,Unions and Leadership. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959, 169–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbash, Jack.Labor Unions in Action. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948.

    Google Scholar 

  • _____. “The Emergence of Urban Low-Wage Unionism.”Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Winter Meeting. Madison, Wisconsin; Industrial Relations Research Association, 1973, 275–283.

    Google Scholar 

  • _____.The Practice of Unionism. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1956.

    Google Scholar 

  • _____.Unions and Union Leadership. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barry, John M. “New Organizing Emphasis Tied to Unity, Cooperation.”AFL-CIO News, XXV (March 1, 1980), 1, 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, James T. and Johnson, Manuel H.Pushbutton Unionism. Fairfax, Virginia: Contemporary Economics and Business Association at George Mason University, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berenbeim, Ronald.Labor Unions: Where are They Heading? New York: The Conference Board, Information Bulletin #93, 1981.

  • Berkowitz, Monroe, “The Economics of Trade Union Organizing and Administration.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review. VII (July, 1954), 575–592.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bilik, Al. “Corrupt, Crusty, or Neither? The Poll-ish View of American Unions.”Labor Law Journal. XXX (June, 1979), 323–333.

    Google Scholar 

  • Block, Richard N. “Union Organizing and the Allocation of Union Resources.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review. XXXIV (October, 1980), 101–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BNA, “Outlook on 1980’s Labor Market Changes.”Labor Relations Yearbook, 1979. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Affairs, 1980, p. 25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks, Robert R. R.,When Labor Organizes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1937.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bok, Derek C. and Dunlop, John T.Labor and the American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craft, James A. “The Employer Neutrality Pledge: Issues, Implications and Prospects.”Labor Law Journal. XXXI (December, 1980, 753–763.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fulmer, William E. “Step by Step Through a Union Campaign.”Harvard Business Review LIX (July–August, 1981), 94–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ginzberg, Eli.The Labor Leader: An Exploratory Study. New York: MacMillan Company, 1948.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gitelman, Morton.Unionization Attempts in Small Enterprises. Mundelein, Illinois: Callaghan & Company, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gray, Lois S. “Unions Implementing Managerial Techniques.”Monthly Labor Review. CIV (June, 1981), 3–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenough, William C. and King, Francis P.Pension Plans and Public Policy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutchess, Jocelyn. “Pension Investment: The European Model.”The AFL-CIO Federationist. XXXVII (June, 1980), 4–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurd, Richard W. “Strategies for Union Growth in Food Manufacturing and Agriculture.”Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Winter Meeting. Madison, Wisconsin: Industrial Relations Research Association, 1973, 267–274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Industrial Union Department.A Guidebook for Union Organizers, Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO; Publication #42, September, 1961.

  • Janus, Charles J. “Union Mergers in the 1970’s: A Look at the Reasons and Results.”Monthly Labor Review. CI (October, 1978), 13–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karsh, Bernard; Seidman, Joel, and Lilienthan, Daisy M. “The Union Organizer and His Tactics: A Case Study.”American Journal of Sociology, LIX (September, 1953), 113–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kochan, Thomas A. “How American Workers View Labor Unions.”Monthly Labor Review. CII (April, 1979), 23–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leftwich, Howard M. “Organizing in the Eighties: A Human Resources Perspective.”Labor Law Journal. XXXII (August, 1981), 484–491.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipset, Seymour Martin, and Schneider, William. “Organized Labor and the Public: A Troubled Union.”Public Opinion. (August/September, 1981), 52–56.

  • McKersie, Robert B. and Brown, Montague. “Nonprofessional Hospital Workers and a Union Organizing Drive.”Quarterly Journal of Economics. LXXVII (August, 1963), 372–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mortimer, Wyndham,Organize. Boston; Beacon Press, 1971.

    Google Scholar 

  • Northrup, James P. and Northrup, Herbert R. “Union Divergent Investing of Pensions: A Power Non-Employee Relations Issues.”Journal of Labor Research. II (Fall, 1981), 191–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perkel, George. “The Failure of Communication in an Organizing Campaign.”Monthly Labor Review. LXXX (October, 1956), 1200–1201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petzinger, Thomas, Jr., “Union Official in West Wins Over Few Miners in Struggle to Recruit.”Wall Street Journal (October 8, 1979), 1, 21.

  • Raskin, A. H. “From Sitdowns to ‘Solidarity’.”Across the Board. XVIII (December, 1981), 12–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raskin, A. H. “Pension Funds Could Be the Unions’ Secret Weapon.”Fortune. C (December 31, 1979), 64–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rifkin, Jeremy and Barber, Randy.The North Will Rise Again. Boston: Beacon Press, 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidman, Joel,et al. The Worker Views His Union. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1958.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidman, Joel; London, Jack; and Karsh, Bernard. “Why Workers Join Unions.”Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences. CCLXXIV (March, 1951), 75–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shevis, James M. “Organizing Goals Form IUD Convention Theme.”AFL-CIO News. XXV (September 27, 1980), 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, George. “Factors in the Unionization of a Utility Company: A Case Study.”Human Organization. XII (Fall, 1953), 17–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Union Community Role Seen Key to Organizing.”AFL-CIO News. (December 2, 1978), 8.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pittsburgh, 15260, Pittsburgh, PA

    James A. Craft & Marian M. Extejt

Authors
  1. James A. Craft
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marian M. Extejt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Craft, J.A., Extejt, M.M. New strategies in union organizing. Journal of Labor Research 4, 19–32 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02685501

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02685501

Keywords

Search

Navigation