Organizing the unorganized and sweeping changes in the federal labor laws are needed for the American labor movement to increase its membership and influence in the workplace, the former president of the AFL-CIO told students and faculty in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations Sept. 29 at the ILR Conference Center.
In his remarks, "Problems of Labor in a Contemporary Society," Thomas R. Donahue, who served briefly as AFL-CIO president in 1995, dismissed conventional wisdom that says the labor movement is getting weaker.
"The labor movement continues to be the most progressive force in American society today," Donahue said.
Donahue explained that the large drop in union membership -- from around 35 percent in the 1950s to 15 percent of the U.S. workforce today -- is a sign that Americans are seeking more independence, not dissatisfaction with the labor movement. "Churches, fraternal and other civic organizations, even voter participation have all seen marked declines," Donahue said. The move from a manufacturing based economy to a service-sector economy also has contributed to the decrease in union membership, he noted.
Despite the need for unions to better balance their responsibility between organized and unorganized workers and the self-inflicted wounds of unethical behavior on the part of union officials, labor's chief nemesis is an antiquated set of federal labor laws, Donahue claimed.
"Labor laws have not been updated substantially since the 1940s," Donahue noted. "Sweeping reform of the organizing process is necessary. Management power is too great."
However with Congress controlled by Republicans, Donahue said he's hopeful, but not optimistic, that labor law reform will come in the near future.
Donahue visited Cornell Sept. 29 through Oct. 1 as the 1997 Alice B. Grant Labor Leader in Residence. The program, named for the former director of the ILR extension office in Rochester, brings to campus each year a major figure in the labor world.
Donahue currently serves as co-chair of the Foundation for Prevention and Early Resolution of Conflict (PERC), which supports, in part, the ILR School's Institute for Conflict Resolution.