Transcription
These are strikers walking a picket line right now. Normally, some of these people would be working on this program. They are members of The Writers Guild of America, and they are on strike against ABC and CBS.
Good evening. I'm Ted Koppel, and this is Nightline.
You scare to the I'm scking to the UN the day I our Focus tonight: labor unions—are they out of touch, out of date, perhaps even on their way out? This is ABC News Nightline, reporting from Washington. Ted Koppel.
It's happening all over the country. Union membership is down, and more and more industries are beginning to unravel and dismantle some of the union contracts that were fashioned during the healthier years of the labor movement. Management is saying, and some labor leaders are agreeing, that strikes and confrontation are universally damaging; that what is needed now, in the face of foreign competition and a devalued dollar, is a new strategy based more on cooperation and mutuality of interest. We begin with this report from Nightline correspondent James Walker.
[Applause]
In the United States, the labor movement has always fought hard to obtain rights and benefits for the American worker.
Solidarity forever. Solidarity forever. Solidarity forever.
For the [Music] union, the anthem of the American labor movement, “Solidarity Forever,” has changed. Nowadays, labor is singing the blues. They’re losing not only influence but vital rank-and-file support. Consider these numbers: In 1945, there were 40 million people in the total workforce; 14 million of them, or 35 and a half percent, were members of a union. But today, with 96 million people in the workforce, less than 17 million people are union members—that’s down to 17.7 percent.
And who is most credited with speeding labor’s decline? Ronald Reagan, who was president in 1981, fired 12,000 air traffic controllers after they violated federal laws against striking.
“I must tell those who fail to report for duty this morning, they are in violation of the law, and if they do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated.”
In fact, Reagan’s action, say labor experts, has legitimized anti-union tactics that had been considered unacceptable since World War II. The message, according to labor historian David Brody, “If it’s appropriate for the government to break a union, then it’s appropriate for for employers to use the same tactics when they’re dealing with unions and feel that they would be better better off uh uh not having a union than having one.”
The new atmosphere that it is okay to bust a union has combined with new competitive pressures to drive out unionized employees. For example, in 1983, Phelps Dodge, hard hit by low copper prices, stopped negotiating with its striking workers. Darl Wortham, a member of the United Steel Workers Union, stayed out two days before crossing the picket line.
“I felt that it was a wrong time to strike. Uh, the economy was bad; there’s a lot of people looking for work, and uh, if I didn’t come in and get my job, I figure somebody else would.”
The final blow against the unions was struck in 1985 when Phelps Dodge employees voted to end union representation. The decertification vote was part of a much broader picture of declining union power.
Item: 1985, a bitter, divisive year-long strike against the Hormel meat packing plant in Minnesota featured violent demonstrations, mass arrests, and eventually a war within the union ranks over strike tactics. When it was over, the strikers had been replaced.
Item: Last August 1st, the longest steel strike in the nation’s history began. It was settled 170 days later when and the United Steel Workers union agreed to pay concessions.
Item: May 1986, striking TWA flight attendants give up and vote to end their walkout, but management has already filled most of the jobs with newly hired employees.
Item: The Writer’s Guild of America strikes ABC and CBS after the two networks demand the union give up seniority rights, the lifeblood of any union. Job security is an important element of union contracts. Someone who devotes 20 years of his life to a company should have some protection against being laid off arbitrarily.
Being laid off is not an uncommon fear. American Airlines flight attendants, mindful of how their TWA counterparts lost their jobs, say they will not strike, even though their contract has been up for renegotiation since late last year.
“Going out on strike today gets one nowhere. Gets you replaced. Some, that is correct, gets us replaced. We may not be asked back. Uh, scabs fill in their places, our places. Uh, there’s no means to that end.”
The major issue involves a so-called two-tier pay system, now increasingly common in many companies. Veteran flight attendants earn an average salary of $27,000 a year. New hires receive only half that amount, $13,000.
“We have said to our people that have helped make this company the great company that it is that we will not cut your wages. All we ask for for is the right to hire new people and what are competitors are paying.”
And what are their competitors paying? American Airlines officials point to Continental Airlines, which intentionally went into bankruptcy in 1983 and emerged without union contracts. Pilots whose annual salary had averaged $77,000 found themselves making $36,000. Flight attendant pay went from $29,000 to $14,000. But American flight attendants say the comparison is wrong.
“Is not a good air. We are one of the top airlines in the in the industry. So fly Continental and see how they are. People keep coming back. We get the repeat business because we have good service and we have a good reputation, and we’re proud of that.”
“All I can tell you is that from my experience in dealing with this group is that I think that their attitudes will change and it won’t be, you know, to the betterment of the company.”
With few options available because of their pledge not to strike, the flight attendant union has adopted a new tactic aimed at tarnishing American’s all-important image. They are distributing this pamphlet, which criticizes American for its safety record and also questions the company’s record on toxic waste dumping and price fixing.
Is this fighting fair?
“I think it is fighting fair. I don’t see anything wrong with uh using the weapons that we have. If we strike, we’re replaced, so this is an alternative to that. Obviously it’s an effort, you know, basically to move uh the negotiations away from the away from the subject and to try and create an atmosphere of confrontation and try and create an atmosphere uh of blackmail in which the company would give in. But the company is standing firm.”
American has recently fired 20 flight attendants who distributed the pamphlets to passengers. So many of America’s unions now find themselves on the defensive, unable to use traditional tactics as a bargaining tool. Gone is the effectiveness of their most important weapon—the strike. The issue now is how to keep what they have without losing anything more.
I’m James Walker for Nightline in Dallas.