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Unions have been compared across countries by growth and decline patterns, by violence levels, and by kinds of political activity.
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| Organized labor |
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Unions have been compared across countries by growth and decline patterns, by violence levels, and by kinds of political activity.
The following is a comparison of union density among OECD countries. Note that this is normally lower than the rate of collective bargaining coverage (for example, France reported a union density of 9% in 2014, while collective bargaining covered 98.5% of workers in the same year). [1]
| Country | Union density (%) | Year |
|---|---|---|
 Australia | 13.7 | 2018 |
 Austria | 26.3 | 2018 |
 Belgium | 50.3 | 2018 |
 Canada | 25.9 | 2018 |
 Chile | 17.7 | 2016 |
 Czech Republic | 11.5 | 2018 |
 Denmark | 66.5 | 2018 |
 Estonia | 4.3 | 2018 |
 Finland | 60.3 | 2018 |
 France | 8.8 | 2018 |
 Germany | 16.5 | 2018 |
 Greece | 20.2 | 2016 |
 Hungary | 7.9 | 2018 |
 Iceland | 91.8 | 2018 |
 Ireland | 24.1 | 2018 |
 Israel | 25.0 | 2017 |
 Italy | 34.4 | 2018 |
 Japan | 17.0 | 2018 |
 South Korea | 11.6 | 2018 |
 Latvia | 11.6 | 2018 |
 Lithuania | 7.1 | 2018 |
 Luxembourg | 31.8 | 2018 |
 Mexico | 12.0 | 2018 |
 Netherlands | 16.4 | 2018 |
 New Zealand | 18.8 | 2018 |
 Norway | 49.2 | 2018 |
 Poland | 12.7 | 2016 |
 Portugal | 15.3 | 2016 |
 Slovak Republic | 10.7 | 2016 |
 Slovenia | 20.4 | 2016 |
 Spain | 13.6 | 2018 |
 Sweden | 68.0 | 2018 |
 Switzerland | 14.9 | 2017 |
 Turkey | 9.2 | 2018 |
 United Kingdom | 23.4 | 2018 |
 United States | 10.1 | 2018 |
In the mid-1950s, 36% of the United States labor force was unionized. At America's union peak in the 1950s, union membership was lower in the United States than in most comparable countries. By 1989, that figure had dropped to about 16%, the lowest percentage of any developed democracy, except France. Union membership for other developed democracies, in 1986/87 were: [3]
In 1987, United States unionization was 37 points below the average of seventeen countries surveyed, down from 17 points below average in 1970. [3] Between 1970 and 1987, union membership declined in only three other countries: Austria, by 3%, Japan, by 7%, and the Netherlands, by 4%. In the United States, union membership had declined by 14%. [4]
In 2008, 12.4% of U.S. wage and salary workers were union members. 36.8% of public sector workers were union members, but only 7.6% of workers in private sector industries were. [5] The most unionized sectors of the economy have had the greatest decline in union membership. From 1953 to the late 1980s membership in construction fell from 84% to 22%, manufacturing from 42% to 25%, mining from 65% to 15%, and transportation from 80% to 37%. [6] [7]
From 1971 to the late 1980s, there was a 10% drop in union membership in the U.S. public sector and a 42% drop in union membership in the U.S. private sector. [8] For comparison, there was no drop in union membership in the private sector in Sweden. In other countries drops included: [9]
The General Confederation of Labour (CGT) is a national trade union center, the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions. Until the 1990s it was closely linked to the French Communist Party (PCF). [10]
It is the largest in terms of votes (32.1% at the 2002 professional election, 34.0% in the 2008 election), and second largest in terms of membership numbers.
Its membership decreased to 650,000 members in 1995–96 (it had more than doubled when Socialist François Mitterrand was elected President in 1981), before increasing today to between 700,000 and 720,000 members, slightly fewer than the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT). [11]
According to the historian M. Dreyfus, the direction of the CGT is slowly evolving, since the 1990s, during which it cut all organic links with the Communist Party, in favour of a more moderate stance. The CGT is concentrating its attention, in particular since the 1995 general strikes, to trade-unionism in the private sector. [12]
The French Democratic Confederation of Labour , CFDT is one of the five major confederations. It is the largest French trade union confederation by number of members (875,000) but comes only second after the Confédération générale du travail (CGT) in voting results for representative bodies.
The CFDT was created in 1964 when a majority of the members of the Christian trade union Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens (CFTC) decided to become secular. The minority kept the name CFTC.
Labour unions emerged in Japan in the second half of the Meiji period, after 1890, as the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization. [13] Until 1945, however, the labour movement remained weak, impeded by lack of legal rights, [14] anti-union legislation, [13] management-organized factory councils, and political divisions between “cooperative” and radical unionists. [15] In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the US Occupation authorities initially encouraged the formation of independent unions. [14] Legislation was passed that enshrined the right to organize, and membership rapidly rose to 5 million by February 1947. The organization rate peaked at 55.8% of all workers in 1949 [16] and subsequently declined to 18.5% as of 2010. [17]
The labour movement went through a process of reorganization from 1987 to 1991 [18] from which emerged the present configuration of three major labour union federations, along with other smaller national union organizations.
The unionization rate in the U.S. and Canada followed fairly similar paths from 1920 to the mid-1960s; both peaked at about 30%. However the U.S. rate declined steadily after 1974 to 12% in 2011. Meanwhile, the Canadian rate dropped from 37% the mid-1980s to 30% in 2010. Part of the reason is the different mixture of industry, and part is due to more favourable Canadian laws. [19] In the United States, the national trade union center is the AFL-CIO, representing about 12.4 million workers, [20] while the Canadian Labour Congress represents over 3 million Canadian workers. [21] In Canada, the CLC is both historically and constitutionally affiliated with the New Democratic Party, [22] while the AFL-CIO has no formal political affiliation.
In 1937 there were 4,740 strikes in the United States. [23] This was the greatest strike wave in American labor history. The number of major strikes and lockouts in the U.S. fell by 97% from 381 in 1970 to 187 in 1980 to only 11 in 2010. Companies countered the threat of a strike by threatening to close or move a plant. [24] [25]
Labor unions first developed in Costa Rica in the late 1880s. [26] The first unions were organized with the help of the Catholic Church. [27] By 1913, the first International Workers Day was celebrated and unions, supported in particular by the Popular Vanguard Party, [27] pushed for Alfredo González Flores' tax reforms. Unions grew in number and coverage. A major historical event for Costa Rican labor was the 1934 United Fruit Company, a national strike involving more than 30 unions which ended with many labor leaders imprisoned. [27] Head of state Teodoro Picado Michalski violently repressed union leaders, leading to the tensions that created the 1948 Costa Rican Civil War. [27] Labor unions continued to grow, supported by the Catholic church, and the first collective bargaining agreement was reached in 1967. Óscar Arias fought fiercely to dissolve and reduce the power of private sector unions in the 1980s. [28] Arias' austerity measures led to a period of increased labor activity as poverty and unemployment increased. [29] Despite the resurgence, unions, particularly in the private sector, still faced opposition and repression. [30] During the 2007 Central American Free Trade Agreement referendum, labor unions unsuccessfully organized to encourage its rejection. [31] They received a boost in political influence when Luis Guillermo Solís and his Citizens' Action Party earned the Presidency and several seats in the Legislative Assembly. [32]
Labor unions are active in both the public and private sectors. Major concerns include salaries increased to reflect inflation, regulation of public commodities, and a stronger Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (Costa Rican Social Security Department). Many labor unions are also asking for increased environmental regulation, [32] and increased oversight of cooperative banks. [33] One important issue for Costa Rica unions is passage a new labor law. [34] Former president Laura Chinchilla vetoed it, but Solís appears to want the issue passed, as do many members of the Legislative Assembly. [33]
Economists have explored the linkage between unionization and levels of overall GDP growth and unemployment, especially in light of the high unemployment in Europe since the 1980s and the stagnation in growth rates. On both the theoretical and the empirical sides, experts have not reached any consensus. [35]
Between 1877 and 1968, 700 people have been killed in American labor disputes. [36] In the 1890s, roughly two American workers were killed and 140 injured for every 100,000 strikers. In France, three French workers were injured for every 100,000 strikers. In the 1890s, only 70 French strikers were arrested per 100,000. For the United States, national arrest rates are simply impossible to compile. In Illinois, the arrest rate for the latter half of the 1890s decade was at least 700 per 100,000 strikers, or ten times that of France; in New York for that decade it was at least 400.
Between 1902 and 1904 in America , at least 198 people were killed, 1,966 workers were injured. One worker was killed and 1,009 were injured for every 100,000 strikers. [37] [38] Between 1877 and 1968, American state and federal troops intervened in labor disputes more than 160 times, almost invariably on behalf of employers. [9] Business was disrupted, usually by strikes, on 22,793 occasions between 1875 and 1900.
Other examples of the violence both by and against U.S. union members in the late 19th and early 20th centuries include the Centralia Massacre, the Great Railroad Strike of 1922, and the Copper Country Strike of 1913-1914
A trade union or labor union, often simply referred to as a union, is an organisation of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", such as attaining better wages and benefits, improving working conditions, improving safety standards, establishing complaint procedures, developing rules governing status of employees and protecting and increasing the bargaining power of workers.
Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of production and the economy at large. Developed in French labor unions during the late 19th century, syndicalist movements were most predominant amongst the socialist movement during the interwar period which preceded the outbreak of World War II.
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The interests of the employees are commonly presented by representatives of a trade union to which the employees belong. A collective agreement reached by these negotiations functions as a labour contract between an employer and one or more unions, and typically establishes terms regarding wage scales, working hours, training, health and safety, overtime, grievance mechanisms, and rights to participate in workplace or company affairs. Such agreements can also include 'productivity bargaining' in which workers agree to changes to working practices in return for higher pay or greater job security.
The General Confederation of Labour is a national trade union center, founded in 1895 in the city of Limoges. It is the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions.
The General Confederation of Labor - Workers' Force, is one of the five major union confederations in France. In terms of following, it is the third behind the CGT and the CFDT.
The French Democratic Confederation of Labour is a national trade union center, one of the five major French confederations of trade unions, led since 2023 by Marylise Léon. It is the largest French trade union confederation by number of members (875,000) but comes only second after the General Confederation of Labour in voting results for representative bodies.
A national trade union center is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such as the Nordic countries, different centers exist on a sectoral basis, for example, for blue collar workers and professionals.
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.
The International Workers' Association – Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores (IWA–AIT) is an international federation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions and initiatives.
The General Confederation of Labor is a national trade union federation in Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merger of the U.S.A and the C.O.A trade unions. Nearly one out of five employed – and two out of three unionized workers in Argentina – belong to the CGT, one of the largest labor federations in the world.
Labor unions represent United States workers in many industries recognized under US labor law since the 1935 enactment of the National Labor Relations Act. Their activity today centers on collective bargaining over wages, benefits, and working conditions for their membership, and on representing their members in disputes with management over violations of contract provisions. Larger trade unions also typically engage in lobbying activities and electioneering at the state and federal level.
Community unionism, also known as reciprocal unionism, refers to the formation of alliances between unions and non-labour groups in order to achieve common goals. These unions seek to organize the employed, unemployed, and underemployed. They press for change in the workplace and beyond, organizing around issues such as welfare reform, health care, jobs, housing, and immigration. Individual issues at work are seen as being a part of broader societal problems which they seek to address. Unlike trade unions, community union membership is not based on the workplace- it is based on common identities and issues. Alliances forged between unions and other groups may have a primary identity based on affiliations of religion, ethnic group, gender, disability, environmentalism, neighborhood residence, or sexuality.
A company or "yellow" union is a worker organization which is dominated or unduly influenced by an employer, and is therefore not an independent trade union. Company unions are contrary to international labour law. They were outlawed in the United States by the 1935 National Labor Relations Act §8(a)(2), due to their use as agents for interference with independent unions. However, company unions persist in many countries.
Labor relations is a field of study that can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. In an international context, it is a subfield of labor history that studies the human relations with regard to work in its broadest sense and how this connects to questions of social inequality. It explicitly encompasses unregulated, historical, and non-Western forms of labor. Here, labor relations define "for or with whom one works and under what rules. These rules determine the type of work, type and amount of remuneration, working hours, degrees of physical and psychological strain, as well as the degree of freedom and autonomy associated with the work." More specifically in a North American and strictly modern context, labor relations is the study and practice of managing unionized employment situations. In academia, labor relations is frequently a sub-area within industrial relations, though scholars from many disciplines including economics, sociology, history, law, and political science also study labor unions and labor movements. In practice, labor relations is frequently a subarea within human resource management. Courses in labor relations typically cover labor history, labor law, union organizing, bargaining, contract administration, and important contemporary topics.
LIP is a French watch and clock company whose turmoil became emblematic of the conflicts between workers and capital in France.
Trade unions in Argentina have traditionally played a strong role in the politics of the nation. The largest trade union association, the Confederación General del Trabajo has been a force since the 1930s, and approximately 40% of workers in the formal economy are unionized.
Disunited and poorly organized for most of its history, trade unions in Ecuador developed only slowly and had only a marginal political impact. Precise figures on unionization in the late 1980s were practically nonexistent, even within the unions themselves. The organized labor movement in Ecuador was divided into four confederations and a number of independent federations. At the local level, labor organizations also took the form of artisan guilds, cooperatives, and neighborhood associations. In addition to representing only a minority of the workers in all sectors of employment, the labor movement traditionally was weakened by rivalry and government repression. Nevertheless, it had influence disproportionate to its numbers as a result of the concentration of trade unions in urban areas, mainly Quito and Guayaquil, its organizational power, and the political impact of strikes and demonstrations on governments that did not enjoy strong support.
A public-sector trade union is a trade union which primarily represents the interests of employees within public sector or governmental organizations.
Trade unions in Costa Rica advocate for the rights of workers in Costa Rica. Dating back to the late 1800s, labor unions in the country have been a political force. They remain active in political and social life for many Costa Ricans.
Collective agreement coverage or union representation refers to the proportion of people in a country population whose terms and conditions at work are made by collective bargaining, between an employer and a trade union, rather than by individual contracts. This is invariably higher than the union membership rate, because collective agreements almost always protect non-members in a unionised workplace. This means that, rather than individuals who have weaker bargaining power representing themselves in negotiations, people organise to represent each other together when negotiating for better pay and conditions in their workplace. The number of people who are covered by collective agreements is higher than the number of union members, and in many cases substantially higher, because when trade unions make collective agreements they aim to cover everyone at work, even those who have not necessarily joined for membership.
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