OPEIU’s Goodwin Calls for ‘Back-to-Basics’ Unionism by Mike Hall, Aug 23, 2010

OPEIU President Michael Goodwin

Unions can look to their history to rediscover ways to move forward and grow, says Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) President Michael Goodwin. In a recent op-ed on Crain’s New York Business.com, he writes:

“Unions are best-known for bargaining contracts, lobbying for legislation and participating in political campaigns. But when they were founded more than a century ago, they served other functions that continue to the present day. From the construction crafts to the maritime industry to the performing arts, unions set standards for skilled work, develop education and training programs to prepare workers to meet those standards, refer skilled workers to employers with job openings and collaborate with employers to promote quality products and services. Unions also pool their members’ purchasing power, often working together with employers to offer benefits such as health care coverage and retirement income that workers can take with them from job to job.”

He says with just 15 percent of the entire workforce carrying union cards, the labor movement is at a crossroads and unions must rebuild membership—and, in turn, workers’ power.

By assuming this stabilizing, service-oriented role in the nation’s industries, unions can become essential partners to business, labor and government and help them navigate a post-recession economy that will be a whole lot leaner and crueler than before the era of BlackBerrys and busted bubbles.

Read more on what Goodwin calls “back-to-basics unionism” here.