The Changing Union Organizing Landscape
by John C. Patzke

The Change To Win federation (CtW), the breakaway coalition of unions that was created last year when they left the AFL-CIO, has recently unveiled a new organizing campaign entitled Make Work Pay! According to CtW news releases, this new campaign will be rolled out later this month in 35 different US cities.

In announcing this new campaign, CtW chair Anna Burger stated: 

 The Make Work Pay! campaign is about ensuring that millions of taxpayers who are working harder and longer with less to show for it are able to be part of the American middle class....We are fighting so that individuals who work hard can earn paychecks that actually support families; receive affordable health care, have the chance to give their children a better life and count on a secure retirement....We are going to reach out to those workers who are not yet organized and to the members of the public that understand and support the notion that this country can't exist without a vibrant middle class. This campaign will empower the millions of workers to help them effect real change to make work pay.

The seven unions that are part of CtW include: UNITE HERE, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Laborers' International Union of North America, Service Employees International Union, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and United Farm Workers of America.  CtW was formed on September 27, 2005, when the five unions that had disaffiliated with the AFL-CIO (United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Laborers' International Union of North America, Service Employees International Union, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America) joined with UNITE HERE and United Farm Workers of America and held their first convention in St. Louis.  They named as their chair, Ms. Anna Burger.  Ms. Burger, 55 years old, has long held significant positions within the Service Employees International Union.  At the time of its formation, 5.4 million workers were members of CtW affiliated unions (out of 15.7 million union members across the USA).

CtW has indicated that it intends to focus its organizing efforts on select industries, industries that are not easily moved offshore.  These industry-wide organizing campaigns will include organizing of up to 10,000 employees at a time.  Particular industries identified for organizing by CtW include healthcare, transportation, warehousing, food production, hospitality and retail sales.  The group’s goal is to organize 50,000 new employees annually, with an ultimate goal of organizing 50 million U.S. workers.  Seventy-five percent of CtW’s per capita tax charged to members is committed to union organizing.  CtW information can be viewed on its website: changetowin.org.

This new period of competition between the AFL-CIO and CtW to increase union membership comes on the heels of a year in which union membership as a percentage of the total workforce remained stagnant at 12.5 percent.  Since the size of the workforce grew during 2005, this translates into a 213,000 person growth in union membership.  Less than 8 percent of private sector employees are unionized, while over 36 percent of government employees are unionized.  Wisconsin’s 2005 unionized rate was 16.1 percent, up from 16.0 percent in 2004.  At the same time the number of union employees declined by more than 4,000 employees as Wisconsin’s total workforce shrunk by more than 40,000 employees in 2005.  AFL-CIO president John Sweeney views this stagnation as positive, since union membership has steadily declined through recent years from its peak of representing about one-third of America’s workforce.

Certification elections held by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), one measure of union organizing activity, declined in 2005 to 2,234 elections, approximately 250 fewer than in 2004.  Unions continue to win a majority of elections, winning 58.9 percent of union organizing elections, and having the greatest success in bargaining units with less than 50 workers.

Unions remain active in their attempt to alter federal and local legislation in order to make union organizing easier.  On the federal level, unions continue their efforts to modify the National Labor Relations Act with provisions to allow union certification based solely on union authorization cards, without any secret ballot election.  As evidenced by the recent Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce v. Milwaukee County, unions are also courting local and state legislators in Wisconsin in order to create laws and ordinances limiting employer rights to remain union-free.

If you have any questions about this article or its subject matter, please contact the undersigned.  Readers are reminded that the information provided in this article is only of a general nature, is not legal advice and is not a substitute for seeking legal advice in particular circumstances.

John C. Patzke 
Brigden & Petajan, S.C.
400 East Mason Street
Milwaukee, WI   53202
414.291.0666

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