The Union Movement in American

The union movement in American life was once a strong movement, but in recent years the percentage of unionized workers has been in decline. The automobile industry in the United States was one of the major focal points or union activity in the 1930s and 1940s, and success in unionizing the automobile plants in Detroit was key to unionizing many other industries as workers decided they wanted the sorts of benefits auto workers were now achieving. The automobile industry fought bitterly to keep unions out of their plants, but once unionization was a fact, these companies adapted their structure and methods to this reality. This did not mean that management no longer fought the unions, but it did mean that both sides tried to accommodate the other to a degree. Now, with increased competition from japan and from U.S.-based japanese manufacturing firms which do not have unions, the entire system is again in question. An examination of the attitudes of union leaders, rank and file members, and managers in the auto industry should show the state of the auto unions today and may help illuminate their probable future.

The United Auto Workers is a union that has had great power and prestige since its founding. It worked to organize auto workers, represented their interests, and addressed a variety of political and social issues of interest to these workers. The organization has had a number of reverses in recent years because of a downturn in the American automobile market, c

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and with General Motors. These victories gave the union considerable cachet among workers. The sit-down strike was the tactic used by the union in these battles. Within months of its success with General Motors, the UAW had increased its membership to nearly 400,000 and then turned its attention to the only remaining target, the Ford company. It took four years for the UAW under the leadership of Walter Reuther to get Ford to agree to a contract. It also took the full power of the federal courts to change the minds of industry. The history of the organization since has been a history of wild pendulum swings of power, of prejudicial acts on both sides, and of selfish and essentially self-destructive policies. By 1978 the union had reached the height of its power with 760,000 members, but there was an internal weakness in this power: "it had too long pursued a policy of demanding more pay for less work, a stance which would contribute to the destruction of the industry." Detroit had long lived in an environment of constant bargaining based on respective claims of poverty by both labor and management, and this was a battle that had evolved out of the refusal by either side to accept any alteration in the lines that had been d

Category: History - T