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4
UNION BEHAVIOR:
STRUCTURE, GOVERNMENT,
AND OPERATION
SUMMARY
Whatever else may be said of the structure of organized labor in the United States, it cannot
accurately be described as being a simple one. Of the 109 “national” (or “international” as unions are
interchangeably called) unions in the country, 55 currently belong to the American Federation of
Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (commonly referred to as the AFL-CIO). The latter is a
rather elaborately organized federation, even if it is one that lacks real authority over the affairs of
its member unions except in quite limited circumstances. It currently, through its member nationals,
represents some 10 million workers, or about 65 percent of all U.S. union members.
Of the remaining 54 nationals, a mere seven of them represent collectively another
appreciable percentage of the nation’s unionized total: just under 33 percent. These unions were all
co-founders of the breakaway Change to Win federation established in 2005. Six of them (the Service
Employees, Food and Commercial Workers, Teamsters, UNITE HERE, Laborers, and Carpenters)
were in 2008 in the ranks of America’s dozen largest unions (the seventh is the 5,500-member Farm
Workers Union) and their combined membership now adds up to a formidable 5.2 million. Their
parent Change to Win’s exact niche as a federation, however, still remains unclear: Many observers,
while willing to suspend judgment for a while longer, tentatively view it as a rather unstructured
confederation of unions originally united essentially only by a sincere impatience with the AFL-CIO’s
recent-year record in organizing the unorganized and these days by a desire to wage coordinated
action in doing this on their own.
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The federation is an aggressive lobbyist in the political arena and at times inactive and
influential endorser of political candidates. It also carries out a massive research program, organizes
on its own and helps its affiliated nationals in their organizational drives.
Change to Win’s governing structure remains quite lean. Its major emphasis by far is on the
recruitment of new members for its member nationals. 75 percent of its budget is regularly
earmarked for this purpose. It is, however, also (increasingly) active in politics.
National unions, whether members of the AFL-CIO or Change to Win (or as the few of them
are, independent of both federations) generally exercise considerable power over their locals. They
typically must approve both the strikes and the collective bargaining contracts of these locals, and all
The local union is “where the people are,” where personal knowledge of and contact with
union leadership take place, and thus where the union member really belongs. Local union officers
generally work without pay, lack the political machinery that their national counterparts have, and
are under constant and often highly critical observation by their constituents. They are motivated to
hold their jobs (despite all of this) for a variety of reasons, among them a desire for recognition, a
devotion to the labor movement, and the viewing of local union office as a vital stepping-stone to
attaining higher union office. Local officers most frequently directly negotiate the labor agreement
with the employer, handle grievances, and oversee the disciplining of union members alleged to have
violated union rules. Local unions also at times are active in politics and engage in a variety of
they typically ask the membership to pay more only as an absolute last resort.
True/False # 1
1.
At present, over 100 international unions in the United States are not AFL-CIO
2.
4.
The AFL-CIO cannot force member nationals who have merged to stay merged.
In 1967, the AFL-CIO had 132 member national unions. Today it has only 55 of
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Half of the AFL-CIO national unions have fewer than 50,000 members.
T
7.
present time.
T
The AFL-CIO expelled the UAW in 1968 for corruption.
F
Neither the Cigar Makers nor the Sleeping Car Porters are separate unions at the
9.
discrimination.
F
To date only two unions have been expelled from the AFL-CIO for racial
10.
By far the chief benefit associated with AFL-CIO membership is the gaining of help
for organizational campaigns.
F
11.
services and education.
T
The supreme governing body of the AFL-CIO is its executive committee.
F
Affiliated national unions receive help from the AFL-CIO in the areas of both legal
15.
Change to Win can force any of its affiliated national unions to merge.
F
Twelve Change to Win departments take an active part in collective bargaining.
F
The number of delegates that each national union may send to AFL-CIO conventions
19.
educational activities.
T
The chief concern of AFL-CIO state and substate bodies is that of political and
21.
The AFL-CIO has aided Communistic unions in the Philippines.
F
In 2004, organized labor enjoyed large success in its national political efforts.
F
One-third of the AFL-CIO’s budget until relatively recently went to four foreign
25.
organization of new union members.
F
The 2005 breakaway unions felt that the AFL-CLO was overemphasizing the
27.
process.
T
National union staff representatives are always union members.
T
The chief reason for the local union’s desire for help from the national union in
collective bargaining involves the complexities of the contemporary bargaining
29.
ted to their jobs.
F
National union staff representatives are sometimes elected and sometimes appoin–
30.
Almost every national union has departments that concentrate on major collective
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31.
Staff representatives of nationals most frequently work out of the national union
33.
Most multi-employer bargaining is in relatively small bargaining units in local–
39.
Under the Landrum-Griffin Act, all delegates to national union conventions must be
40.
Less than half of all national union conventions are held either annually or
41.
Nothing in the Landrum-Griffin Act requires unions to hold regular, or even
43.
Before his death some fifteen years ago, Cesar Chavez, the national president of the
45.
Most major internationals now require retirement of their officers prior to age
47.
Most national union officers and staff representatives were at one time local union
True/False # 2
3.
The relationship of member national unions to the AFL-CIO is not unlike that of
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The Mine Workers have never belonged to the AFL-CIO.
Change to Win’s executive committee has fifty-three members.
12.
There are currently thirteen constitutional departments within the AFL-CIO.
The chief duty of Change to Win’s convention is ruling on all issues referred to it by
15.
At present, the AFL-CIO represents some 17 million union members.
State and city bodies of the AFL-CIO have only limited executive power over their
18.
The AFL-CIO has consistently lobbied for state right-to-work legislation.
Labor’s efforts greatly helped Al Gore win both Pennsylvania and Michigan in the
21.
The AFL-CIO has actively tried to develop a moderate anti-Communistic labor
22.
All national union constitutions now contain provisions that establish standards of
23.
insurance and pensions.
The UAW has among its departments special ones that deal respectively with health
25.
Unions employ lawyers a bit more frequently than do managements when cases go
26.
National union officers devote the major share of their time to providing services to
28.
organization.
The Food and Commercial Workers union is an especially politically active labor
30.
In a recent election year, unions collectively spent at least $100 million to help the
31.
32.
Local unions normally pay the lost wages of delegates who go to national
Most national union constitutions designate a convention as the union’s supreme
conventions.
33.
of the union.
Most national union officers are elected by a direct referendum open to all members
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34.
Almost every national union holds a convention at least every four years.
Most national unions use the convention election system for choosing their principal
36.
A small number of national unions holds no conventions at all, and this is entirely
legal.
T
38.
In a relatively recent year, the national president of the Teamsters cut his annual
In a recent year, the national president of the Laborers Union earned under $47,000.
40.
positions.
At least ten Teamster top officials currently get paychecks from at least three union
41.
jobs has been most conspicuously displayed in recent times by the Machinists.
The practice in some unions of placing the relatives of top officials in high-paying
42.
Karl Rove was president of the Carpenters for forty-two years.
In a recent year, the median direct compensation of the CEOs, of 350 major United
45.
Daniel J. Tobin is currently the youngest leader of a major union in the United
46.
The Steelworkers Union has more than three times as many locals for its 850,000
47.
To date, few national unions have established public review boards.
Taking a local out of one national union and placing it in another is known as clone
49.
A typical turnout for a regular monthly local union meeting is about 20 percent of the
Multiple Choice # 1
1. The relationship of the AFL-CIO national unions to the federation is like the relationship of
2. AFL-CIO officials have estimated that the minimum dues-paying base necessary to support
effective national union action is
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3. In recent years national union mergers have been
4. If the AFL-CIO finds that an affiliated national union has not complied with federation rules,
it can do no more than
5. At present, the AFL-CIO executive council has a membership of
6. The following is not currently an AFL-CIO department:
7. State federations and central labor councils are
8. The number of national unions currently represented by the AFL-CIO is
9. COPE is a part of the
10. Employer association-national union collective bargaining is not found in
11. If a national union runs out of money to pay strike benefits to striking members, other
nationals will customarily
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12. As compared to the Teachers, many of the building trades unions are much
13. At a Teamster convention a while ago, that union’s international president was
14. A national union convention
15. Presidents of even the largest United States labor unions rarely make more than
17. Cesar Chavez was president of the
19. Staff representatives are
20. Most of the local union’s time is devoted to
21. A Public Review Board was first created by the
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22. A typical membership turnout at regular monthly meetings of locals is
24. The annual income of American unions from all sources, by some estimates, amounts to about
25. Initiation fees tend to be in the range of
Multiple Choice # 2
1. Change to Win counts among its member nationals the
2. In 1993, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union merged with the
3. In 1995, the Rubber Workers merged with the
4. The Pottery Workers some years ago merged with the
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5. The AFL-CIO has never expelled the
6. By far, the chief benefit associated with AFL-CIO membership is
7. Current AFL-CIO constituency groups include
8. In 2000, 39 percent of all union households did not vote for Democratic candidate
9. Between the mid-1970s and 1994,
d. between 80 and 90 percent of all COPE-endorsed Congressional candidates won.
11. In recent times, the AFL-CIO has tried to help build moderate labor movements in
12. Spending on foreign affairs institutes to fight Communism has been associated with
13. Almost all national union constitutions now contain a
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14. National union staff representatives are most frequently
15. Recent media campaign ads by the Automobile Workers have contained the message
16. National union conventions are usually held in
17. Under the terms of the Landrum-Griffin Act, delegates to national union conventions must
be chosen by
18. Landrum-Griffin requires that union members
19. William J. McCarthy was president of the
20. Tony Boyle was president of the
21. The president of the Laborers Union in a recent year
22. Daniel J. Tobin was president of the Teamsters
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23. Michael Goodwin presides over the
24. The Food and Commercial Workers have
25. The major publication of the Teamsters Union is called
Essay Questions
1. “In a sense, the relationship of the national unions to the AFL-CIO compares closely with the
relationship of member nations to the United Nations.” Comment fully on the accuracy of
this observation.
2. Why do national unions seek to belong to the AFL-CIO? What specifically do they get for
their per capita tax money?
3. “Generally speaking, national union presidents are—if anything—underpaid for what they
do.” Do you agree with this statement or not? In answering, be as concrete as you can
regarding both the pay and the duties.
4. Given the frequent absence of any pay at all for their work, does it make any sense to you
that many union members desire to acquire and retain local union officer jobs?
5. “All national unions should be required by law to establish a Public Review Board as the
UAW has done.” Discuss fully.
6. “The recent trend toward mergers of international unions with the AFL-CIO makes sense for
many reasons and because of this logic we can expect the trend to continue until there are
only a relative handful of unions left.” Discuss, citing the specific reasons offered in the
textbook.
7. “The AFL-CIO has no business at all spending its money in the area of foreign affairs. It
should leave that job entirely up to the U.S. State Department and concentrate instead on
improving wages, benefits and conditions of employment for the millions of American
workers who pay, at least indirectly, all of its bills.” Do you agree or disagree? Why or why
not?
8. “In the political arena, the AFL-CIO has not been particularly aggressive.” Comment on the
accuracy or inaccuracy of this statement as you see it.
9. Why is it a fact that most national union officers stay in power for years?
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10. Change to Win and its potential effect on the AFL-CIO.
Term Paper Topics
1. An evaluation of the influence of COPE, the AFL-CIO’s Committee on Political Education.
2. The concern of the American labor movement with fast-track authority and an appraisal of
the appropriateness of this concern.
3. Organizational attempts at Wal-Mart.
4. The national union presidency: Is it an impossible job?
5. The local union meeting and the problem of poor attendance: What, if anything, can be done
about it? (Personal interviews with officials of local unions could in this case, of course, be
particularly valuable to the student.)
6. A case study of a recent national union convention, ideally based on interviews with
delegates who were there as well as on newspaper reports and official proceedings: An
attempt to assess how democratic it was, and also how efficient it was.
7. The compensation of national union presidents: Too much, too little or just about right?
8. The expulsion of the Teamsters from the AFL-CIO for corrupt influences: Did it make any
real difference to either the Teamsters or the federation?
9. The union organizer: How much of a study in frustration? (Again, personal interviews could
make this effort especially rewarding.)
10. Union dues and initiation fees: Are they, generally speaking, set at about the right levels?
11. The rise of Andy Stern and his allies as either a threat or a potential shot-in-the-arm to the
mainstream of the American labor movement.