NEW YORK — After years of avoiding confrontation, the U.S. labor movement is reasserting itself. For sacrifices they say helped restore the economy, unions are demanding payback in the ports of Los Angeles to the car plants of Detroit.
Of course it’s the same across many of the recession hit countries, with workers basically given a choice – layoffs or pay freezes. In the UK there is a similar pressure building, with many people have forgone wage increases for many years in order to help maintain companies who were struggling. However you can clearly see that the pressure in the USA from unions in the media and workplace is building. Just a quick browse of some of the main media sites can confirm this – try using this tool which gives you a American IP address.
Oil workers have walked off the job for better working conditions. Dock workers have snarled West Coast ports. Personnel staffing oil terminals in the Port of Long Beach, Calif., are threatening to strike. For the initial raise veteran autoworkers have received in a decade, union leaders girding for contract discussions this season will push in Detroit.
Union leaders are taking advantage of a tightening labor market and political environment that is favorable. With middle class wages stagnating and also the rich getting richer, income inequality is becoming a rallying cry to GOP presidential aspirant Jeb Bush from President Obama. Reviving opportunity for all resonates with Americans who feel left out as growth picks up along with the market reaches record highs.
“Employers look to believe that they’ll shove unions, the roots of the American-working class, off a cliff,” said Dave Campbell, whose local represents oil terminal workers in the Port of Long Beach. “Well, these corporations have made a substantial miscalculation in our power to fight back. There’s a great deal of labour strife now, plus they could have an important confrontation on their hands.”
Mr. Campbell’s combative rhetoric evokes an era when unions had the pull to win critical lifestyle upgrades for their members. Wielding the threat of work slowdowns and strikes, organized labour helped generations join the middle class and stay there.
In the last few years, however, globalization and feeble economic growth have hollowed out union power. By this past year, 14.6 million did. In the 1980s, important strikes averaged 75 based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There were 11, this past year.
Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California at Berkeley, wondered if walkouts were an endangered species and has watched the ebbing of union power. The surge of labor unrest has got his attention. Mr. Shaiken said the main catalyst is inequality.
A 2011 study linked the decrease in union membership since 1973 and enlarging wage difference. The trends have continued, said Bruce Western -wrote the study.
Union workers say they took a hit on wages and benefits after the monetary crisis expect to be rewarded for his or her sacrifice and to help to keep businesses and also the economy afloat.