Assignment
1. Why is it so important that unions focus their energy and resources on organizing the unorganized?
2. Describe and explain the major barriers to the increased unionization of women in “hard to organize” sectors and workplaces.
3. Do the experiences of organizing informal workers in India, or immigrant janitors in the United States, provide any lessons as to how unions can adopt new strategies that will increase women’s trade union participation? There are many reasons why unions should focus their energy and resources on organizing the unorganized. With the current statistics of the number of unionized workers it almost seems as though the organization of the unorganized is a life and death question for the labor movement. Bringing in the millions of unorganized workers into the unions is important and necessary not only for the protection of the unorganized workers themselves but also to safeguard the life of the existing organizations. Attacks from employers are being made on many current trade unions threatening their very existence. The struggles of these unions can be by drawing on the support of the great mass of the unorganized. As the saying goes, there is power in numbers so by doubling or even tripling the total number of organized workers the increased weight of organized labor will enormously enhance its power. Also, if unions are able to bring the millions of unorganized semiskilled and unskilled workers into the unions, it will provoke a whole series of battles against the employers and will immensely increase the militancy of the labor movement. As previously stated, organizing the unorganized will protect those workers that are already unionized. It will strengthen their bargaining position and help to protect their jobs. Organizing the unorganized will also bring larger numbers of unskilled and semiskilled, national minority (Afro-American, Chicano, etc.) and women workers into the labor movement. History has shown that these groups are
2. Describe and explain the major barriers to the increased unionization of women in “hard to organize” sectors and workplaces.
3. Do the experiences of organizing informal workers in India, or immigrant janitors in the United States, provide any lessons as to how unions can adopt new strategies that will increase women’s trade union participation? There are many reasons why unions should focus their energy and resources on organizing the unorganized. With the current statistics of the number of unionized workers it almost seems as though the organization of the unorganized is a life and death question for the labor movement. Bringing in the millions of unorganized workers into the unions is important and necessary not only for the protection of the unorganized workers themselves but also to safeguard the life of the existing organizations. Attacks from employers are being made on many current trade unions threatening their very existence. The struggles of these unions can be by drawing on the support of the great mass of the unorganized. As the saying goes, there is power in numbers so by doubling or even tripling the total number of organized workers the increased weight of organized labor will enormously enhance its power. Also, if unions are able to bring the millions of unorganized semiskilled and unskilled workers into the unions, it will provoke a whole series of battles against the employers and will immensely increase the militancy of the labor movement. As previously stated, organizing the unorganized will protect those workers that are already unionized. It will strengthen their bargaining position and help to protect their jobs. Organizing the unorganized will also bring larger numbers of unskilled and semiskilled, national minority (Afro-American, Chicano, etc.) and women workers into the labor movement. History has shown that these groups are