US Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform from Above, the Promise of Revival from Below

by Kim Moody

US Labor in Trouble and Transition tells the story of union decline in America and of the split in the labor movement it led to, following the dismal tale of union mergers and management partnerships that accompanied the retreat from militancy since the 1980s. Looking to the future, Moody shows how the rise of immigrant labor and its efforts at self-organization can re-energize the unions from below. US Labor in Trouble and Transition is a major intervention in the ongoing debate within the US labor movement.

Genres: Labor, History, Politics, Nonfiction

289 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2007

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive and well-argued overview of the decline of the labor movement, beginning in 1980. Moody patiently runs through the external and internal factors, using sociology, economic data, and union journalism.

External factors: Industry’s migration from cities to suburbs; northern to southern states, changes in the composition of the working class, and new inventions to exploit workers.

Internal factors: The move towards “business unionism,” and its accompanying tendencies of concessions, suppression of member militancy, bureaucracy, focus on labor-management cooperation, and mergers and acquisitions as a strategy for growth.

The consequences of labor’s decline? Rises in productivity but no commensurate rise in wages. The greatest area of growth in our economy is in super low-wage industries (debunking the myth that a focus on education and training will solve our economic woes). Excessive executive compensation leaves less for the working class. On this latter point: “So, as important as the outrageous compensation for CEOs has become, the bigger problem lies in the ability of the wealthy to accumulate assets that keep them rich even when there is a problem with the stock market or the economy” (97).

Moody occasionally risks overgeneralization: is it true that racism was the *only* reason that unions didn’t organize the south? If that were true, what would one make of some of those unions’ significant members of color working in the northern states? (Could it not be because of unions’ historical strongholds in the North, which industrialized first?). While Moody’s economic evidence is typically exhaustive, the evidence for some of his more sociological claims is not always.

This was published in 2007. What’s changed since then? Well, of course, there was the Great Recession. Wealth inequality is that much more severe—in Tom Geoghegan’s newest book he points out that the distribution more closely resembles feudalism than our “gilded age.” The Tea Party arrived and industry-aligned groups launched a new round of legal challenges to collective bargaining and prevailing wage laws.

However, since 2007, there has also been more pronounced public outrage over these anti-worker trends, and an uptick in worker militancy: there was the occupation of Republic Windows, the Madison uprising, #Occupy Wall Street, the Chicago Teachers Union strike, and the Fight for 15.

There is also a range of promising organizing experiments from the bottom-up. There are many more worker centers now than when Moody wrote this, and many have matured. National networks of these “alt-labor” groups have formed: National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Guest Workers Alliance, Restaurant Opportunities Center United, National Staffing Workers Alliance, and the Food Chain Workers Alliance.

This book still holds great value for the history it tells. But it also leaves us hoping for Moody to write a new edition, to assess these trends and to project their future, in light of the significant events of the last 8 years.

[Brian Napoletano · Rating 4 out of 5]

A careful look at the available data reveals that many of the explanations commonly advanced for the decline in union power miss the root causes. Moody contends that, while neoliberal globalization has shipped some manufacturing outside the US, particularly in the textile and metal industries, the economy still rests very firmly on domestic production. Instead, Moody identifies spatial shifts within the US to southern states, changes in the composition of the working class, and a sustained campaign by capital to extort more from the workers, all of which the bureaucracy that dominate most of the unions were ill-equipped to respond to, as critical factors responsible for the decline of union power. He also contends that bureaucracy's willingness to make concessions, its opposition to rank-and-file militancy, and its authoritarian hierarchy have lead most unions to rely on "shallow power," such as contracts, labor-management cooperation schemes, and litigation to defend workers and mergers and acquisitions to increase density are largely responsible for the collapse of union organizing that reached a tipping point in the 1980-81 recession. Instead of an authoritarian hierarchy or a corporate business model, Moody proposes that unions be managed democratically, and that the emphasis be on providing workers with the resources and experience needed to become leaders themselves. To build a powerful labor movement that can reverse the balance of class forces in the US, Moody emphasizes the need to organize the southern states and to build class solidarity by extending beyond basic workplace organizing. It will most likely be the workers themselves, and not the union leaders, who offer the best hope of bringing the vision and the support needed to turn the next rise in class conflict into a lasting victory for the working class.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent labor history from Kim Moody. Covers the 20 year period from 1985-2005 and the shifts within the labor movement during those years. Moody makes excellent use of statistics and Marxist analysis to demonstrates the ways lean production and other modern management techniques have been used to maximize the intensification of labor and surplus value extraction in the wake of the rapid retreat of labor since the 80s.

Not satisfied to merely chronicle labors failings, as always Moody seeks out the historical patterns in the US labor movement to see what new attempts at reviving union democracy can succeed long term and should be learned from. While I don't always agree with all of Moody's more directly political/electoral evaluations, his analysis of the dead end that is the Democratic Party is spot on.

Moody is a must read for those dedicated to a revival of democratic union power in the US.

[Thomas Ray]

College Library Main Collection, 1st Floor, Rm. 1191
HD6508 M685 2007

[Keir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst not the most riveting of texts the book comes across as well researched and convincingly argued. Its argument for grass-roots activity within the unions being a huge potential for change goes beyond the dogmatic utterances of the far left and actually looks at the structures, process and relationships within the US union movement to provide compelling reasoning for this position. The analysis of the transformation of the US economy over the past 30 years and the consequent effect on the labour movement is hugely insightful and discounts some of the commonly held perceptions of industrial decline. Being a UK-based trade unionist I can only wish that a similar volume existed analysing the UK labour movement.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book a challenging read. Parts of it felt unfinished, and sometimes Moody so over-whelmed me with tables and charts that I found it difficult to follow his argument. He wrote this book in Britain, and it feels more distant from the day-to-day struggles chronicled in Workers in a Lean World and an Injury to All.

Ultimately though I think this is a very timely and important book for the labor movement. Moody argues that manufacturing, transportation, and communication are still at the core of the US economy, and that organizing these sectors is the key to rebuilding labor's power in the US. And he convincingly backs up his argument.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

the story of the decline of american organized labor from the early 70's up to and including the AFL-CIO/Change to Win split. The two most valuable features of this book are the wealth of statistical data on organized labor's position in the contemporary economy and a thoughtful argument on the implicit limits of Change To Win-style reform from above.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent analysis