Dual unionism is the development of a union or political organization parallel to and within an existing labor union. In some cases, the term may refer to the situation where two unions claim the right to organize the same workers.
Dual unionism is sometimes considered to be destructive of the solidarity essential to the orderly functioning of labor unions and the exercise of their power vis-a-vis the employer.
Many countries outlaw dual unionism in their national, state or local labor relations acts. Many unions also outlaw dual unionism as part of their constitutions.
However, some labor unions and political organizations advocate dual unionism as a means of survival or as a strategy for winning political power. The Industrial Workers of the World, for example, advocates dual unionism (although the behavior is called 'dual cardism').[1] Such organizations and/or unions argue that dual unionism may be compatible with the goals of the union and therefore not a hindrance to the union. Labor parties which incorporate unions into their structures and social movement unionism, it is argued,[by whom?] are examples where political organizations coexist constructively with unions.
The distinction between dual unionism and mere internal politics is often not clear. Many unions have political factions or caucuses which disagree on the policies, finances, values and goals of the union. But internal politics rarely rise to the level of dual unionism. In certain cases, where the situation is unclear, whether an action actually constitutes dual unionism must be resolved politically (e.g., by the exercise of power) within the union.
Another example of dual unionism is the suspension by the AFL in August 1936 of the unions which formed the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO). AFL president William Green accused the CIO unions of engaging in dual unionism. The charge was never adequately outlined, and the CIO denied the accusation. The AFL resorted to patently illegal means to eject the unions of the CIO (an example of the way in which political power often is the deciding factor in whether an act constitutes dual unionism).[4]
↑ Foner, Philip. History of the Labor Movement in the United States: The T.U.E.L, 1925–1929. New York: International Publishers, 1994. ISBN0-7178-0691-X
↑ Braun, Robert J. Teachers and Power: The Story of the American Federation of Teachers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972. SBN 671211676. p. 48-57.
↑ Phelan, Craig. William Green: Biography of a Labor Leader. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1989. ISBN0-88706-871-5
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 60 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million active and retired workers. The AFL-CIO engages in substantial political spending and activism, typically in support of progressive and pro-labor policies.
The Communist Party USA and its allies played an important role in the United States labor movement, particularly in the 1930s and 1940s, but wasn't successful either in bringing the labor movement around to its agenda of fighting for socialism and full workers' control over industry, or in converting their influence in any particular union into membership gains for the Party. The CP has had only negligible influence in labor since its supporters' defeat in internal union political battles in the aftermath of World War II and the CIO's expulsion of the unions in which they held the most influence in 1950. After the expulsion of the Communists, organized labor in the United States began a steady decline.
The Communist Party (CP) and its allies played a role in the United States labor movement, particularly in the 1930s and 1940s, but largely wasn't successful either in bringing the labor movement around to its agenda or in converting their influence in any particular union into membership gains for the Party. The CP has had only negligible influence in labor since its supporters' defeat in internal union political battles in the aftermath of World War II and the Congress of Industrial Organizations's (CIO) expulsion of unions in which the party held the most influence in 1950. The expelled parties were often raided by stronger unions, and most withered away.
The American Federation of Labor was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL–CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutual support and disappointed in the Knights of Labor. Samuel Gompers was elected the full-time president at its founding convention and was re-elected every year except one until his death in 1924. He became the major spokesperson for the union movement.
The nature and power of organized labor in the United States is the outcome of historical tensions among counter-acting forces involving workplace rights, wages, working hours, political expression, labor laws, and other working conditions. Organized unions and their umbrella labor federations such as the AFL–CIO and citywide federations have competed, evolved, merged, and split against a backdrop of changing values and priorities, and periodic federal government intervention.
Craft unionism refers to a model of trade unionism in which workers are organised based on the particular craft or trade in which they work. It contrasts with industrial unionism, in which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of differences in skill.
Labor aristocracy or labour aristocracy has at least four meanings: (1) as a term with Marxist theoretical underpinnings; (2) as a specific type of trade unionism; (3) as a shorthand description by revolutionary industrial unions for the bureaucracy of craft-based business unionism; and (4) in the 19th and early 20th centuries was also a phrase used to define better-off members of the working class.
John Brophy (1883–1963) was an important figure in the United Mine Workers of America (UWMA) in the 1920s and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the 1930s and 1940s. He was the last major challenger to John L. Lewis' power within the UMWA and, after Lewis hired him back, a key leader within the CIO.
Thomas Reilly Donahue Jr. was an American trade union leader who served as Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations from 1979 to 1995, interim president for several months in 1995, and was President Emeritus from 1996 until his death. He was considered one of the most influential leaders of the post-World War II American trade union movement.
Matthew Woll was president of the International Photo-Engravers Union of North America from 1906 to 1929, an American Federation of Labor (AFL) vice president from 1919 to 1955 and an AFL-CIO vice president from 1955 to 1956.
The Trade Union Unity League (TUUL) was an industrial union umbrella organization under the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) between 1929 and 1935. The group was an American affiliate of the Red International of Labor Unions. The formation of the TUUL was the result of the Communist International's Third Period policy, which ordered affiliated Communist Parties to pursue a strategy of dual unionism and thus abandon attempts at "bore from within" existing trade unions. TUUL unions aimed to organize semi-skilled and unskilled workers, many whom had been expelled from the American Federation of Labor (AFL). According to the TUUL, the AFL was "an instrument of the capitalists for the exploitation of the workers." Thus, the TUUL was formed as an organization in opposition to the AFL."
Emil Rieve was an American labor leader. He was president of the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) from 1939 to 1956, a vice president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) from 1939 to 1955, and a vice president of the AFL-CIO from 1955 to 1960.
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is a union of wage workers which was formed in Chicago in 1905 by militant unionists and their supporters due to anger over the conservatism, philosophy, and craft-based structure of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Throughout the early part of the 20th century, the philosophy and tactics of the IWW were frequently in direct conflict with those of the AFL concerning the best ways to organize workers, and how to best improve the society in which they toiled. The AFL had one guiding principle—"pure and simple trade unionism", often summarized with the slogan "a fair day's pay for a fair day's work." The IWW embraced two guiding principles, fighting like the AFL for better wages, hours, and conditions, but also promoting an eventual, permanent solution to the problems of strikes, injunctions, bull pens, and union scabbing.
Labor unions in the United States, since their early beginnings, have held various viewpoints on immigration. There were differences among the labor unions and occasionally opposition to contemporary majority opinions and public policies.
A business union is a type of trade union that is opposed to class or revolutionary unionism and has the principle that unions should be run like businesses.
The United Public Workers of America (1946–1952) was an American labor union representing federal, state, county, and local government employees. The union challenged the constitutionality of the Hatch Act of 1939, which prohibited federal executive branch employees from engaging in politics. In United Public Workers of America v. Mitchell, 330 U.S. 75 (1947), the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the Hatch Act, finding that its infringement on the Constitutional rights was outweighed by the need to end political corruption. The union's leadership was Communist, and in a famous purge the union was ejected from its parent trade union federation, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, in 1950.
The Pennsylvania AFL–CIO is a federation of labor unions in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania in the United States. It is an affiliate of the AFL–CIO. It was formed on June 9, 1960, by the merger of two predecessor bodies, the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor and the Pennsylvania Industrial Union Council. It can trace its history through its predecessor bodies to 1890.
The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of Labor (AFL) by John L. Lewis, a leader of the United Mine Workers (UMW), and called the Committee for Industrial Organization. Its name was changed in 1938 when it broke away from the AFL. It focused on organizing unskilled workers, who had been ignored by most of the AFL unions.
The New York City Teachers Union or "TU" (1916–1964) was the first New York labor union for teachers, formed as "AFT Local 5" of the American Federation of Teachers, which found itself hounded throughout its history due largely to co-membership of many of its members in the Communist Party USA (CPUSA).
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