A labor union is an organization of employees whose purpose is to bargain with an employer or a group of employers over pay and working conditions. In the United States about 17 percent of all employees belong to unions and employee associations. In other countries, especially in Western Europe, union membership is higher. It is not uncommon, as in the Scandinavian countries, for a large majority of all employees to belong to unions. West European unions reinforce their power by affiliating with labor, socialist, and, in a few countries, communist political parties. In some countries labor unions are divided into Christian and socialist groups. Frequently, labor-supported parties control the governments in their respective countries. Although U.S. unions are politically active, they have no such direct affiliations with political parties. The four functions of unions in the United States are to recruit new members, negotiate with employers, occasionally conduct strikes to achieve their purposes, and engage in politics by supporting political candidates who are favorable to them and by working to influence legislation. Unions maintain professional staffs to manage these various operations. In 1988 about 17 million workers belonged to unions and employee associations in the United States. They constituted 16.8 percent of the total labor force, and 38.7 percent of all union members were government employees. Union membership has been generally increasing since the early 1960s, largely because of the growth of public employee unions. At the same time, the proportion of all workers and employees enrolled in unions has been declining. This decline is probably due to the shift of the labor force away from manufacturing and manual work--areas in which unions have always been strongest--and into service occupations. The importance of labor unions in American life cannot be measured by the number of workers who are represented by them. Many nonunion employers are influenced by the standards set in collective-bargaining agreements between unions and other employers. Unions also have great political influence both in Washington, D.C., and in the state capitals. They are the major organized force behind government policies on employment and social welfare. By means of lobbying, testimony before congressional committees, and general public relations they also influence government decisions on other economic matters and foreign affairs. UNION STRUCTURE Unions are classified either as craft unions, industrial unions, or public employee unions. Membership in a craft union is limited to those who practice an established craft or trade, for example, bricklayers, carpenters, and plasterers. The major craft unions are composed of workers in the building, printing, metal, and maritime trades and of railroad employees. The primary employers of craft union members are nonfactory businesses and small-scale, highly competitive, local enterprises. The membership of an industrial union is composed of skilled, semiskilled, or unskilled workers in a particular workplace, industry, or group of industries. Industrial unions are primarily found in the more technologically advanced industries and in large-scale national and international corporations. The craft union is likely to be more powerful than the industrial union in relation to employers, and craft union locals are likely to be more powerful than the national organization. However, the industrial union's national organization is likely to be more powerful than the local unions. Public employee unions are organizations of municipal employees such as firemen, teachers, and policemen. The major difference between unions in the private sector and those in the public sector is that the latter generally do not have the right to strike. They often strike anyway, or circumvent the ban on strikes by proclaiming that their members have been taken ill. One of the most important issues in union-management relations today is that of what to do about strikes in the public sector. (President Ronald Reagan's reaction to the 1981 strike of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO)--he fired 11,500 controllers and decertified the union--was unprecedented. For the most part, public sector unions have been able to call strikes with relative impunity.) A closely related problem is how to settle disagreements without a strike and on terms that are fair both to the employees and to the public. The typical union operates on five organizational levels. In the plant, a shop committee discusses day-to-day, on-the-job problems with management. One or more shop units make up a local union, which in urban industrial areas may have many members. The local union is the basic unit and has authority to levy dues or fees, discipline its members, and enter into written agreements with management. Sometimes local unions in a geographical or industrial area form an association (known as a district council, joint council, and so on) to coordinate their efforts on matters of common interest. The national union is composed of locals and intermediate bodies and is the kingpin in the trade union structure. The national (frequently called the international if it has Canadian locals) typically exerts the decisive influence in collective bargaining with local employers. The federation of national unions is the top organizational body. The principal U.S. federation at present is the \TAmerican Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations\t (\TAFL-CIO\t), which is mainly an association of autonomous national unions and is financed ultimately by the dues of union members. Funds are disbursed in specified proportions to affiliated groups, with the national and local unions usually getting the largest shares. (Some major U.S. unions remain independent of the \TAFL-CIO\t, for example, the \TTeamsters\t and the \TUnited Mine Workers\t. The \TUnited Auto Workers\t, which became independent in 1968, rejoined the \TAFL-CIO\t in 1981.) In Canada the Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL) is the counterpart of the \TAFL-CIO\t. In 1982 a split within the CCL resulted in a new federation of building-trades unions, the Canadian Federation of Labor (CFL). Canada also has a federation of Catholic labor organizations called the Confederation des Travailleurs Catholiques du Canada (CTCC). Unions are self-governing organizations. Major decisions at all levels are made by the elected leadership. In the administration of their internal affairs, however, and in their relations with employers, many unions have developed a high degree of professionalism. Leaders often devote full time to their union positions. In addition, unions occasionally employ lawyers, doctors, economists, educators, and publicists. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING The major function of U.S. unions is collective bargaining, a process by which unions and employers negotiate terms of employment. The terms are set forth in a written agreement that the union and the employer promise to enforce. The collective agreement is a fairly large document that is divided into five main sections: (1) wages and wage supplements; (2) workers' rights on the job; (3) union rights in relation to the employer; (4) management rights in relation to the union; and (5) machinery for enforcing these rights, that is, the \Tgrievance procedure\t. About 200,000 labor-management agreements exist in the United States at the present time, and each is unique. Its specific provisions depend on the employer's ability to pay, the condition of the economy and the industry, the needs of the employees, and the abilities of the union and the employer negotiators. Wages and Wage Supplements The wage provisions of the agreement specify how much the employees are to be paid in relation to particular job classifications and types of work. The provisions cover paid holidays, paid vacations, overtime rates, and hours of work. Most agreements specify minimum daily or weekly pay guarantees. Among the most important provisions of collective bargaining agreements are those covering so-called fringe benefits, such as health insurance, sick leave, and pensions. These benefits are no longer "fringe" but are of central importance and in the United States are evolving into a private social security system. The pay rate negotiated by unions and management is, therefore, not a matter of simply deciding on the hourly rate but a complex structure of wages, job classifications, and wage supplements. Job Rights Unions are also interested in workers' rights on the job, which give employees a voice in determining work conditions and protect them from arbitrary acts of their superiors. Workers have the right to complain to management without fear of reprisal if they have reason to believe that some provision of the collective agreement has been violated. Another important job right concerns discharge and discipline. In such cases, the employee must be given "just cause," or a good reason; if the employer fails to show just cause, the worker has the right of redress through the grievance machinery. Workers are also entitled to seniority rights; length of service must be considered in determining layoffs, transfers, promotions, and vacation time. Union Rights A collective bargaining agreement also contains union security provisions that establish the union's right to recognition as long as it represents a majority of the employees in a bargaining unit. Most agreements provide for a union shop, where workers are hired on the condition that they join the union and pay dues afterward. (In a \Tclosed shop\t, all persons hired must already be union members. \Lopen shop\ls, which are mandatory in states that have \Tright-to-work\t laws, do not require union membership as a condition of employment.) A check-off clause requires management to withhold union dues from employees' pay and forward them to the union. Under federal law a union has exclusive representation in any collective bargaining unit where it has been selected by a majority of the employees. The employer may not bargain with any other union or employee group claiming to represent workers in that unit, which may be an occupation, craft, department, plant or plants, company, or companies, depending on the scope of the agreement. Management Rights An agreement will also contain provisions designed to protect "management's right to manage" from union penetration. Unions in the United States say that they seek only to review management decisions, and then only those decisions that affect the terms of employment. Nonetheless, employers feel strongly that they need protection from union invasion of their prerogatives. A typical management rights provision will read, "The management of the plant and the direction of the working force, including the right to establish reasonable rules and regulations and production schedules, to hire, to promote outside the bargaining unit, and to discharge for just cause, shall be vested exclusively in the company, subject to the agreement." Enforcement Many unionists believe that enforcing the agreement is the most important part of the collective bargaining process and that without enforcement the written agreement is ineffective. Enforcement is administered through a functioning grievance procedure capped by \Tarbitration\t. POLITICAL ACTION Most unions have found that political and legislative activity are necessary complements to collective bargaining. They work to elect candidates for federal, state, and local offices who favor union positions, and they usually support candidates on the basis of their records rather than their party. However, Democrats seem more likely to favor labor programs than do Republicans. In the 1930s, Franklin D. Roosevelt turned to organized labor for political support, and in most presidential elections since then the unions have favored the Democratic nominee. For many candidates, union support is often crucial. In comparison with other interest groups that help fund election campaigns, labor union Political Action Committees (PACs) have donated the largest aggregate amounts. The legislative side of union activity consists of lobbying for union policies in the state legislatures and in Congress and of monitoring the enforcement of these policies. Full employment, improved Social Security benefits, health insurance, protection from foreign imports, equal opportunity, taxation, occupational health and safety, minimum wages, and the reform of labor laws are some of the major legislative interests of unions. Legislation and politics are the primary concern of the staff of the \TAFL-CIO\t. DEVELOPMENT OF UNIONS In the Middle Ages the \Tguilds\t--economic organizations of craftsmen--set price and quality standards and fended off competition. The 16th-century journeyman's societies carried out extensive lobbying and some strikes. The labor union in England developed in response to the changed conditions of the Industrial Revolution, but attempts to organize unions were largely unsuccessful until the formation (1868) of the \TTrades Union Congress\t and the passage of the Trade Union Act. In the late 19th century British unions allied with socialists in the Independent Labour party (later the \TLabour party\t). German unions began to organize after 1848 but attained no lasting significance until after World War II; in France labor union groups formed in the early 19th century. In Russia labor unions developed for a brief time in 1905 and again under state supervision after 1917. Developing countries in the second half of the 20th century have spawned politically important mass union movements. Unions have existed in the United States since the late 18th century, when the growing distance between masters and workers encouraged the formation of unions. The early unions were local units organized by skilled craftsmen to protect themselves against the competition of half-trained workers ("green hands"). After about 1830 the unions became reform-minded and sought to change the economic and social system rather than simply to bargain with employers. The skilled craftsmen in the unions had not fully reconciled themselves to the status of wage earners; they clung to the ideal of self-employed artisan, which they saw being threatened by the growth of large industry. The spokesmen of this movement were middle-class intellectual reformers who, even before the time of Karl Marx, sought to direct the workers along anticapitalist and antiindustrialist lines. Producers' cooperatives, currency reform, temperance, and independent labor parties were popular causes. The \TKnights of Labor\t, which flourished between 1869 and 1886, marked the full flowering and then the rapid decline of this kind of reformism in the American labor movement. As the Industrial Revolution got fully under way in the post-Civil War period, the Knights of Labor gave way to the emerging craft unions. The American Federation of Labor, formed in 1886 under Samuel \TGompers\t, became the symbol of the new unionism. The \TAFL\t unionists believed that industrial capitalism was here to stay and grow, that there was no retreat from the wage system, and that the primary purpose of the unions had to be improving the workers' lot through collective bargaining. This was called "pure and simple" or "bread and butter" unionism, in contrast with socialist or revolutionary unionism, the primary objective of which was transforming society. Although craft unions dominated this period, radical voices, both within and outside the \TAFL\t, argued that no permanent solution to the problems of the worker was possible in a capitalist society. The most dramatic challenges came from socialist leaders such as Eugene V. \TDebs\t and Daniel \TDe Leon\t. Another radical was William D. (Big Bill) \THaywood\t, the leader of the militant \TIndustrial Workers of the World\t (\TIWW\t). Neither pure-and-simple unionism nor radical unionism gained a foothold in the mass production sectors of the economy. However, the craft unions flourished in the construction, printing, and railroad industries, where employers' bargaining power was weak and the ties of the craftsmen were strong. The craft unions also managed their organizations in a more businesslike way and attracted and held members through a system of unemployment, sickness, and death benefits that the workers themselves financed. New Deal Era Trade unions reached their lowest point during the Great \Tdepression\t that began in 1929 and continued into the early 1930s; however, Franklin D. Roosevelt's \TNew Deal\t (1933) changed their fortunes. The New Deal permitted government intervention in the economy, and much of it was designed to strengthen the unions and the workers. For the unions the most significant part of the New Deal was the \TNational Labor Relations Act\t of 1935, better known as the Wagner Act, which strengthened the unions' rights to organize and bargain with employers. Leaders such as John L. \TLewis\t, Walter P. \TReuther\t, David \TDubinsky\t, and Sidney \THillman\t brought great personal abilities to the creation of new unions in the mass-production industries. These unions affiliated in the Congress of Industrial Organizations, which in 1955 merged with the American Federation of Labor under the leadership of George \TMeany\t. The membership of national unions grew from less than 3 million in 1933 to more than 8 million in 1938. During World War II it continued to increase and reached more than 14 million in 1945. Growth subsequently leveled off, and some observers asked whether unionism had reached a point of stagnation and decline. Beginning in the 1960s the growth of public employee unionism did stimulate union development, but through the 1980s overall union membership declined. Internationally, two large organizations--the World Federation of Trade Unions (1945) and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (1949)--have come to dominate the scene. The \TInternational Labor Organization\t (1919), an agency of the United Nations, promotes better working conditions and collective bargaining, among other things. Labor Legislation The Wagner Act and other laws, mostly federal laws reinforced by court interpretations, have protected and regulated labor unions. The Norris-La Guardia Act (1932) prohibited the granting of injunctions in labor disputes in federal courts. The \TLabor-Management Relations Act\t, 1947, more often called the Taft-Hartley Act, prohibited certain unfair practices by unions against employers. The \TLabor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act\t of 1959, called the Landrum-Griffin Act, protected the rights of union members as against union officers and sought to eliminate union racketeering. The \TCivil Rights Act\t of 1964 prohibited discrimination by unions and employers on the basis of race, sex, or age. Federal executive orders have given federal employees the right to form unions and bargain with their employer. State laws have done the same for state employees. \Tright-to-work laws\t in many states prohibit union shop agreements. Recent federal laws and regulations determine not only how bargaining is to be accomplished but what the parties should bargain about. Since World War II, the federal government has occasionally stepped in to restrict the wage increases that unions could ask for, in an effort to curb inflation. During the 1980s a decline in overall union membership and recent Republican electoral gains significantly reduced organized labor's political influence. Labor laws and increased corporate awareness contributed to this as well. Jack Barbash Bibliography: Barbash, Jack, American Unions: Structure, Government, and Politics (1966); Brierley, W., Trade Unions and the Economic Crisis of the 1980s (1986); Dulles, Estey, Marten, The Unions: Structure, Development, and Management, 3d ed. (1981); Fink, Gary M., Labor Unions, vol. 1 (1977); Freeman, Richard B., and Medoff, James L., What Do Unions Do? (1984); Goldfield, Michael, The Decline of Organized Labor in the United States (1987); Leab, Daniel J., ed., Labor History Reader (1985); Lipset, Seymour M., ed., Unions in Transition: Entering the Second Century (1986).