My final post in this series addresses the demise of the labor movement in America.

On July 25, during the first day of the AFL-CIO’s 50th anniversary convention and elections in Chicago, it was announced that the SEIU and Teamsters made good on their threat to leave the AFL-CIO and start their own federation. I don’t think this matters.

As indicated in my first post in this series, the numbers just don’t support union relevancy in the domestic private sector. Regardless of the formation of new labor federations, increased organizing activity, or a focus on nonpartisan politics, the labor movement is being demolished by globalization, the human capital movement, union prevention specialists and the unions themselves.

Globalization just isn’t conducive to union organizing in the private sector. In order for domestic unionized companies to remain competitive, unions are increasingly asked to concede wages and benefits. Moreover, other than perhaps in America, Europe and Israel, unions aren’t wanted. I recall a conversation I had a few months ago at a dinner reception in Chicago’s Chinatown. The reception was given for a contingent of Chinese business people and graduate business students from Tianjin China and the university in Tianjin. When I asked some of the business people and students if China would welcome labor unions they laughed. Labor unions are anathema in a communist country like China. Although the Chinese economy is becoming increasingly deregulated, the government is centralized and it has near absolute control over the people. The concept of a third party being an intermediary between government and businesses is ridiculous to the Chinese. Many economists and business people believe that by 2050, if not sooner, China will have the largest and most powerful economy in the world. Labor unions will have no role in China’s economic development. Presently, the same appears true for India, which is expected to be the world’s second or third largest economy.

Without being able to break into these huge economies where will the unions go? No matter where the unions go, companies will move operations to a non-union nation, and companies and consumers will continue to purchase from those nations. This is already happening in America.

The human capital movement and knowledge management movements, which are offshoots of modern human resources theories, are additional reasons why the labor movement is failing. Overall, good employers are increasing in numbers and productivity while maintaining increasingly effective employee relations and government support. And in my opinion, the number of bad employers is in decline. My contention is not based on statistics. Rather, my contention is based on the fact that the body of knowledge and research available to assist employers in creating proactive and preventive human resource policies and practices has increased tremendously over the last 15 years. Much credit goes to technology, the Internet, education and globalization. It’s true that there are many companies in countries, including the U.S., where employees work in sweatshop conditions. However, as more countries enter into the global economy via trade agreements, and due to improvements in technology and education, the number of companies desiring to maintain good public relations with customers and governments should provide sufficient pressure to create conformity to humane employment practices.

Domestically, labor unions appear to be moving away from their traditional cozy relationship with the Democratic Party and are now poised to pursue nonpartisanship. This won’t matter. The Republican Party has been very successful with anti-labor policies and with little to no support from labor. Unfortunately for the unions however, even traditionally union friendly politicians, such as Chicago’s Mayor Daley, are increasingly anti-union. For instance, for years Mayor Daley refused to negotiate with the city’s police and fire personnel. Additionally, he has extracted concessions from all city unions and has resorted to increased privitization of services. Daley is extolled as being one of the best big city mayors in the nation, and is known as a business friendly mayor. Perhaps Daley recognizes that unions increase employment costs on many levels. Whether or not Daley has been influenced by the human capital and knowledge management movements is difficult to discern.

Also, union prevention specialists are becoming more effective and increasing. The number of attorneys and consultants who, like myself, specialize in union prevention and decertification campaigns appears to be increasing because there’s greater demand for our services and because we’re successful. One telling statistic is that of the number of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) bargaining unit decertifications via employer petitions. According to the Labor Research Association (LRA), www.laborresearch.org, which is a pro-union advocacy group, in 2003, there were a record number of decertification petitions filed with the NLRB and won by the employers. In 2003, there were 825 petitions filed and 300 (36.4%) won. In 2001, there were 775 petitions filed and 239 (30.8%) won. In 2002, 635 petitions were filed and 208 (32.8%) were won. From January 2004 through September 2004 (the latest statistics), 336 petitions were filed and 108 (32.1%) were won. My guess is that the percentage of victories will either remain constant or increase. Coupled with the decline in the total number and percentage of represented private sector employees, the outlook for unions is getting worse.

Finally, unions have become one their own worst enemies. It’s commonly believed, and I agree, that many unions have capitulated to business’ demands in order for the union officials to keep their jobs, salaries and benefits. Although I have no statistics to support this contention, there should be an increasing number of unfair labor practice filings against unions for breaching their duty to fairly represent their members. Additionally, the number of lost union elections should increase. Moreover, many unions don’t seem to understand business. A telling event occurred recently wherein the United Auto Workers (UAW) are now trying to determine if they can help General Motors reduce their employee medical costs. Why has it taken this long for a labor union such as the UAW to propose a business savvy move such as this? Why aren’t other unions doing the same, and if they are why aren’t we hearing more about it?

The bottom line is that business and the world and domestic economies are evolving at much faster rates than the labor movement can keep pace with. Consequently, the union movement is heading toward extinction.