Union Needs To Broaden Strategies To Reach Professional And Service Workers

March 6, 2001

University Park, Pa. -- Unions, now at a critical point in their history, have the chance to transform the American labor movement by including a variety of groups that have not been previously organized under the union umbrella, a Penn State researcher says.

"These groups consist, on one hand, of professional workers in the fields of health care, high technology and e-commerce and on the other hand, low-paid service workers, many of whom are recent immigrants, people of color and women," notes Dr. Paul F. Clark, associate professor of labor studies and industrial relations.

In his recent book, "Building More Effective Unions" (Cornell University ILR Press), he details strategies by which unions can make inroads among these and other workers in the years ahead. He also discusses insights on how individuals' attitudes toward an organization such as a union are formed, how an organization's internal culture in terms of ceremonies, rituals, heroes and legends build greater loyalty to an organization and how public opinion towards organizations is shaped by the media and other information sources.

In addition to their traditional strategies, unions should draw on behavioral science to learn more about human behavior and the relationship between individuals and their organizations. Clark suggests that unions can use these lessons in their efforts to organize new members, bargain contracts and resolve disputes with employers.

"In the past, unions have tended to act as if commitment, in the context of a union-management relationship, was an `either or' proposition. Workers either were committed to the union or to the employer, but not to both. However, behavioral research has demonstrated that employees are capable of simultaneously being committed to both their union and their employer, a phenomenon called dual commitment. This is a particularly important finding in regard to professional and white collar employees," says the Penn State researcher.

"Sometimes unions need to convince the employees in an organizing campaign that commitment to the union is not incompatible with commitment to the employer," Clark notes.

For instance, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), in seeking to organize Harvard University clerical workers at Harvard University in the late 1980s, found itself opposed by many employees who feared that a vote for the union was a vote against Harvard. The union successfully countered this resistance with the campaign slogan, "It's Not Anti-Harvard to be Pro-Union," arguing that, when employees have a voice in improving their working conditions, the employer benefits in the long run.

Clark argues that professional workers are also much concerned about maintaining the high standards of their profession. In a previous study of a large group of registered nurses, Clark and fellow researchers discovered that the major concern among these workers was the decline in patient care resulting, in their view, from the introduction of managed care into the American health care system.

"My research indicated that nurses were most likely to vote for a union if that union could provide them with a greater say in how patients were cared for," he says. "If the union could convince them that it could help improve care, the nurses were much more likely to vote for a union. This finding is an example of the kind of insights behavioral science has to offer to union."

Clark has been an educational and research consultant for various unions, including the United Mine Workers, United Steelworkers, National Association of Letter Carriers and the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.

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Contacts:

Paul Blaum (814) 865-9481 (o) pab15@psu.edu

Vicki Fong (814) 865-9481 (o)/ (814) 238-1221 (h) vfong@psu.edu

EDITORS: Dr. Clark is at (814) 865-0752 or at pfc2@psu.edu by email.