November's Organizing Roundtable Features Presentation by Dr. Elaine Bernard of the Harvard Labor and Worklife Program

On Tuesday, November 10^th, dozens of union organizers and labor leaders gathered at IBEW Local 103 for the Massachusetts AFL-CIO Organizing Roundtable, where Dr. Elaine Bernard of Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program offered her insights on topics of labor law ranging from organizing to wages and pensions, to the right to strike.

 

Dr. Bernard, an expert in comparative labor movements, critiqued United States labor law in relation to the laws on the books in other countries. Countries such as Canada and most European nations tend to have more worker-friendly laws governing the labor-management relationship, leading to higher rates of unionization.

 

One statistic where the United States led all other nations, however, was the average disparity in pay between union members and their non-union counterparts – 30 percent in the U.S. No other developed nation had near as much of a disparity between union and non-union workers. However, this fact was described as somewhat of a catch-22 by Dr. Bernard, who pointed out that the potential to earn more is a motivating factor for workers to organize, but the prospect of having to pay higher wages also causes employers to run harsh anti-union campaigns. The United States has by far the largest and most lucrative union-busting industry in any developed nation.

 

Dr. Bernard also shared her thoughts on building the Labor Movement from within. While organizing the unorganized is an important and necessary goal, she urges labor leaders not to forget about the already-organized. Most union members, she says, came into their union not through an organizing drive, but by getting a job in a union shop. Therefore, many do not have any real connection to their own union. The millions of union members in the United States who are not yet considered “active” members represent a potential goldmine of labor activists who can contribute to a stronger Labor Movement.

 

Click here to read Dr. Elaine Bernard's recent publications.