WASHINGTON-While the Communications Workers of America succeeded in winning concessions that make it easier to organize wireless workers at Verizon Communications-the nation’s largest mobile phone and local telephone company-the prospect for widespread wireless unionization is challenged by a confluence of forces that conspire against organized labor in the New Economy.
“It’s kind of tough to see where unions will fit into this very dynamic economy,” said Edward Hudgins, a labor expert at the Cato Institute.
Separate from Old Economy labor issues-such as overtime, job security, wage improvement and benefits-the union’s victory in securing unfettered access to Verizon wireless employees was driven largely by organized labor rather than by a mass movement of disgruntled wireless workers.
For now, at least, organized labor needs wireless and other high-tech employees more than the latter needs unions. CWA, which today calls itself “the union for the Information Age,” is on a recruiting mission. It’s easy to see why. Only a handful of the 32,000 wireless workers, out of the 260,000 total at Verizon, belong to unions.
The settlement between CWA and Verizon allows the union to prospect wireless employees for union membership without interference from management. A minimum of 55 percent of signatures must be obtained from the wireless unit of a company to allow union representation. The process can take about half a year.
Card checks, as they’re called, are in place at AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and SBC Communications Inc. Still, the majority of wireless workers at those companies have not opted for union representation.
With the steady decline in union membership as the United States leaves behind the Industrial Age for the Information Age-an evolutionary development that puts a premium on services over manufacturing and knowledge over brute strength-unions are becoming an anachronism.
As politically potent as unions are insofar as being generous contributors to the Democratic Party and active voters, only about 14 percent of the U.S. work force belong to unions. Membership was more than double that size a half century ago. Of that 14 percent, the private sector accounts for 9.4 percent of union membership in the United States. The remaining 4.6 percent is composed of teachers and local, federal and state employees-a group that embraces the Gore-Lieberman ticket and is the object of scorn of education reform-minded Republicans.
Blue-collar workers, the bread and butter of unions during the heyday of the 1950s before American manufacturing jobs went overseas, are aging and giving way to a new generation of highly mobile workers in a diverse job culture that rewards personal innovation in ways unions cannot touch. Highly skilled workers in the New Economy do not need a union to represent them at the bargaining table; the individual has enough leverage to extract lavish benefits already.
Indeed, with New Economy labor shortages, wireless and high-tech firms compete with stock options and benefits to attract and retain employees.
“It’s very hard to organize IT (information technology) workers,” said Richard Judy, director of the Center for Workforce Development at the Hudson Institute. “Unions will thrive best when management across the bargaining table enjoys market power.” That’s because, according to Judy, monopolies-as AT&T Corp. used to be and which the seven, spun-off regional Bell telephone companies largely remain-are in a financial position to offer concessions.
In such an environment, at least for regional Bells, labor has leverage to secure concessions. Any disruption in local service caused by a strike triggers complaints from consumers. The Bells, in turn, ultimately must answer to state regulators.
But such is not the typical scenario of the New Economy, where government- mandated deregulation and competitive incentives make telco firms accountable not to government regulators, but to shareholders. As such, according to Judy, lean high-tech firms have little to offer to union negotiators and their constituents.
“The marginal role of union representation does not offset the marginal costs of union dues,” observed Mark Wilson, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
Nevertheless, organized labor is trying to put the best face possible on the remaining agreement reached last week with Verizon.
“This settlement [covering 87,000 workers from Maine to Virginia] secures the future for our members at this company and it also helps sharpen Verizon’s competitive edge,” said Morton Bahr, president of CWA.
While unions are expected to continue to appeal to technicians, customer service representatives and others with a landline legacy at AT&T and the seven regional Bells spun off from Ma Bell in 1984, CWA still faces an uphill battle in organizing wireless employees in those companies and at newer telecom firms that have prospered in an environment of government-mandated deregulation and competition.
Indeed, CWA opposed the failed merger of WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp.-the No. 2 and No. 3 long distance carriers-because of their hostility toward unions.
Despite all the obstacles to wireless unionization, the landscape could change and the momentum could shift after the telecommunications shakeout-fueled by deregulation and consolidation-currently under way.
At that point, wireless telcos-seeking to differentiate themselves in a market of fewer competitors-may decide to put more emphasis on customer service and quality network maintenance. Those workers would be prime candidates for union representation. And the balance of power could well shift back to organized labor once again.
