Reforming Labor Unions
City Journal Audio
Manhattan Institute
4.7 • 656 Ratings
🗓️ 4 September 2017
⏱️ 24 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
On Labor Day, we honor the American labor movement and the contributions that workers make to the strength and well-being of the country. It's been more than 80 years since Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) guaranteeing the right of private-sector workers to unionize and bargain collectively for better pay and working conditions.
Today, the NLRA still governs the relationship between organized labor and employers—but in 2015, less than 10 percent of American workers belonged to a union. That's down from nearly 40 percent in the 1950s. With economic competition from overseas and technological innovation changing the value of physical labor in the United States, maybe it's time to rethink how American model of labor relations.
Oren Cass joins Brian Anderson to discuss labor unions, past and present, and to offer an alternative model for organized labor. This 10 Blocks episode is the third based on City Journal's special issue, The Shape of Work to Come. The discussion draws on Oren's essay, "More Perfect Unions."
Oren Cass is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, where he focuses on issues ranging from welfare to climate change. Previously, he was domestic policy director of Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Happy Labor Day. To all our listeners, I'm Brian Anderson, the editor of City Journal. |
| 0:05.0 | It's been more than 80 years since Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act, |
| 0:09.3 | guaranteeing the right of private sector workers to unionize and bargain collectively for better pay and working conditions. |
| 0:16.7 | During the booming post-World War II manufacturing years, millions of industrial workers were |
| 0:23.2 | represented by labor unions for the purpose of setting pay and work conditions. |
| 0:27.8 | The unrest of the 1930s was largely left behind as labor and industry worked together in at least |
| 0:34.6 | relative harmony. |
| 0:36.9 | Since the 1970s, changes in the economy and the emergence of foreign competition have |
| 0:42.9 | drastically changed the market for American labor. |
| 0:46.5 | In 2015, fewer than 10% of U.S. workers belonged to a union. |
| 0:51.8 | That was down from nearly 40% in the 1950s. Today's labor unions are still |
| 0:57.8 | based on a model of industrial relations that dates back to the Depression and even earlier. |
| 1:03.3 | Does this old model of labor in perpetual contention with management over basic standards |
| 1:09.5 | still apply, still make sense in the modern |
| 1:12.4 | economy? Maybe it's time to rethink how labor organizations operate. Joining us on the show today |
| 1:19.1 | to talk about that is Orrin Cass. Orrin's essay for the special shape of work to come issue |
| 1:25.8 | of City Journal is called More Perfect Unions. |
| 1:29.5 | Its subtitle, Organized Labor's Adversarial Approach has failed workers in Society. |
| 1:35.2 | It's time for a new model. |
| 1:41.0 | Hello, I'm City Journal editor Brian Anderson. |
| 1:48.3 | Thanks for joining us for the 10 Blocks podcast featuring urban policy and cultural commentary |
| 1:53.2 | with City Journal editors, contributors, and special guests. |
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