The combination of the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 and the admission of China to the World Trade Organization in 2001 resulted in massive job losses in the United States. It is difficult to track these losses due to the undulating nature of the world economy, but estimates place this loss since China’s WTO entry at 2.8 million manufacturing jobs.
These union manufacturing job losses in the U.S. were followed by an increasing disparity in pay rates and a downward spiral in union membership.
The percentage of workers as a part of the workforce continued to drop in 2012 to 11.3 percent, the lowest level in 100 years. The good news is that in 2013 the percentage of union members in the workforce held steady at 11.3 percent. Some point to a decrease in public service jobs and states that are pushing unions out of the public service sector as two of the factors contributing to the slide in union membership.
This massive loss of union jobs and the influx of young workers into the workforce begin to erase the history of union struggles that have brought better working conditions, better working hours and better rates of pay to American workers.
The negative numbers for union membership make some think that unions are on their way out but the President of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka has another view on the matter:
“Despite an unprecedented volley of partisan political attacks on workers? rights and the continuing insecurity of our economic crisis, union membership increased slightly last year. Working men and women want to come together and to improve their lives.”
Even though the Gross Domestic Product has been growing relatively steadily, the share of that wealth that working people take home is falling.
A study undertaken by Claire Gordon, that appeared in the June 2013 issue of the American Sociological Review, indicates that this disparity in the division of wealth is due to the decrease in union membership.
This study examined data on working people’s share of GDP covering nearly the last 100 years. The clear indication was that as union membership fell, so did the share of profits that workers took home.
The examination of data indicated that technological advances had also sapped the power of unions, giving employers more tools to control workers and using automation to replace skilled blue color jobs with lower paid data entry personnel. The power of computers has made it more possible for employers to keep an eye on employees, stall negotiations and single out and dismiss union activists.
Whether the growing power of larger and larger corporate entities sounds the death knell of unionism in America or not, tough times for working people appears to be on the horizon as more and more conservative governments continue the attack on unionism.
Edited and Published by: WG
