The Future of the American Labor Movement (review)

In The Future of the American Labor Movement, Hoyt Wheeler reviews the present predicament for U.S. labor, briefly surveys current union strategies, and offers prescriptions for what American unions need to do.

Following a short review of organized labor's decline in numbers and influence, Wheeler introduces an analytical framework centered on (a) enabling conditions (e.g. worker psychology, government support, minimized employer resistance) and (b) a taxonomy of "ideal union types." These ideal types represent different ways that unions might function. Wheeler identifies five: Pure and Simple Unionism, Militant Radical Unionism, Cooperationist Unionism, Social Democratic Unionism, and Reformist Unionism.

The rest of the book argues that reformist unionism is likely to be the best path for American labor. The author defines reformist unionism as follows:

Its aim is improving the lives of all those human beings who produce goods and services, insuring that they receive the full fruits of their labor. This is not limited to union members, or even to members of a class. It utilizes collective bargaining, but is averse to the strike as an instrument in the process. It accepts a unitarist perspective, but only in connection with worker ownership in worker cooperatives. It organizes geographically as well as firm by firm and includes, and forms coalitions with, various other groups that have progressive goals. It operates as a mutual benefit society. It relies heavily on education and politics, and expressly aims at a better society.

As an example of older reformist unionism, the book presents the Knights of Labor in the 1880s. As an example of new reformist unionism, it offers the Carolina Alliance for Fair Employment (CAFE), a community organization in South Carolina fighting for workers rights. As an example of a reformist strategy that is both old and new, it examines employee ownership.

The author also looks at European social democratic unionism in theory and practice, and the book concludes by demonstrating how his recommended reformist strategies relate to existing conditions. Wheeler's prescription for American labor is a multifaceted structure with a rather eclectic set of strategies, including labor capital funds, employee ownership organizations, national unions, labor intellectuals, politicians, international labor organizations, worker rights organizations, union networks, and union reform organizations.

This book is wide-ranging and a fascinating read, but it also has some major shortcomings. First, the concept of reformist unionism as used in this book is not really coherent. "Uplift" organizations like the Knights of Labor are lumped together with militant anti-corporate ones like CAFE. At times, reformist unionism looks like a social democratic strategy, at others, like workers' capitalism or mutual aid self-help. There is no real base or center to this concept, and the definition given is merely a set of descriptions that don't conceptually adhere to each other.

Second, the author has a limited understanding of the Knights of Labor. He cites only older publications on this organization (most pre-dating 1960), showing no awareness of newer works such as those by Kim Voss or Rob Weir. He fails to note that the Knights "producerist" ideology included manufacturers within their ranks (at least small ones) and excluded long-term unemployed workers.

Finally, the discussion of contemporary labor developments and organizations is idiosyncratic and incomplete. CAFE is given an entire chapter, but Jobs with Justice is not even mentioned. Workers' centers get no mention. "Members-only" unionism, where a majority cannot be obtained, or in states with no public sector collective bargaining laws, gets very cursory attention. The same is true for cross-border initiatives and a host of other contemporary innovations.

In sum, confusing conceptualization, lack of currency in historical understanding, and superficiality and incompleteness concerning the current labor scene limit the insights in the book. Despite such criticisms, the book is definitely worth reading for those interested in the contemporary U.S. labor movement. It is certainly...