Losing its grip

摘要

Judged by oratory alone, this week's convention of America's labour federation, the AFL-CIO, in Chicago was a triumph. Teddy Kennedy railed against the "most anti-worker, anti-labour, anti-union administration in memory". Barack Obama, the Democrats' new black hope, dreamed of when "labour rises again". Nancy Pelosi blasted free trade. John Edwards scolded chief executives for their "golden parachutes". The Rev Jesse Jackson called for "massive ground action". Everybody booed Wal-Mart. Alas for labour, such firebreathing paled in the face of the AFL-CIO'S own troubles. On July 25th, two of the three biggest unions withdrew from the labour federation. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Teamsters, who cover freight-shippers and associated trades, think they have a better way to rebuild the union movement, which has seen membership fall to 12.5% of the total workforce in 2004 from over 30% in the 1950s (see chart on next page). Last year, just 8% of private-sector workers were unionised. The dissident "Change to Win" coalition now comprises seven unions. Two of them, UFCW (food and commercial workers) and UNITE HERE (clothing, hotel and restaurant workers) also boycotted the convention and could defect from the federation soon.