Consumer-Oriented Approach to Union Organizing
Americans are still essentially in what is called the “me-first” generation, and union leaders are stepping up their efforts to capitalize on that unfortunate fact.
To attract new members and hold present ones, the AFL-CIO is substantially expanding its use of corporate marketing techniques and consumer-oriented services to try to reverse labor’s continuing decline.
In the 1930s and ‘40s, when unions were growing rapidly, idealism was a prime factor motivating union organizers and attracting members. The unions were, they said, appealing to the most generous instincts of workers who were told that they could best help others, as well as themselves, by uniting in unions to fight for better wages and working conditions for everyone.
Self-interest certainly wasn’t ignored, but the collective good was stressed, too.
That approach succeeded in the days of liberal Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, and with presidential help union membership soared to more than 40% of the work force.
But gradually attitudes of most Americans seemed to change. Self-interest began to predominate.
Unions still sell themselves as organizations that unite workers for the good of all members, and although the differential is getting smaller, union members last year had median weekly earnings of $497, compared to $372 for their non-union counterparts.
It might seem as though that 33% advantage would attract the most self-interested worker without that old appeal to the idealism of the past. But it isn’t happening.
So, with only 16.9% of all workers in unions today, labor leaders are adding other enticements to their appeals for members: special deals for workers as consumers.
There have been a few signs of initial success, with some unions saying their relatively new “Union Privilege” services that range from low-interest MasterCards to free legal services are responsible for at least some increase in membership.
Encouraged, top officers of the 14.5-million-member labor federation last week announced the start of another innovative program called “UnionRate,” a money market deposit account for union members.
Like the union MasterCard, UnionRate is designed to appeal to workers as individuals by giving them something more than help in uniting them to win higher wages and better working conditions.
A poll taken for the AFL-CIO by the Roper Organization found that 60% of union members have money in a regular savings account, and only 15% put their money in a bank money market fund that offers a higher rate of return.
UnionRate gives members a low-risk investment and a higher return than the usual bank money market fund or bank savings programs, federation officials say.
It will earn no profit for the unions other than, they hope, more and happier dues-paying members.
The MasterCard is already a good attraction. It offers credit for 5% above the prime interest rate, which is less than almost any bank charges, and more than 2 million union members and their families now hold union MasterCards.
Other consumer services include travel discounts, a mail-order pharmacy for prescription drugs and term life insurance. Members have bought more than $1 billion of the insurance in the first year of that program’s operation.
To see whether union and non-union members want even more extensive consumer-oriented services, the United Food & Commercial Workers Union has started a test in Nashville, Tenn.
To entice non-members to join, the Nashville UFCW local is offering an expanded Union Privilege program that includes everything in the basic national program, such as the MasterCard, UnionRate investments and insurance, but with added
attractions such as substantial price discounts on everything from car lubes to movies.
Workers get that just for joining. But for $49 a year, they also can get significant savings on a wide variety of other items ranging from new cars to parts and services for cars taken to participating companies such as Goodyear, Firestone and Aamco.
If the Nashville test succeeds, it will be expanded across the country.
AFL-CIO unions are also trying to appeal to workers entirely on consumerism even when they work in non-union companies. They are urged to join as associate members who get the Union Privilege advantages for less than the cost of regular union dues. The theory is that, in time, associate members will form the nucleus of a union organizing campaign where they work.
Labor is going beyond consumerism in its attempt to regain the influence that it once held.
Last week, federation leaders meeting in Bal Harbour, Fla., officially launched a multimillion-dollar, “worker-friendly” investment fund to give unions capital to help finance their own defensive takeovers. That fund isn’t consumer-oriented, but it does move them into the world of corporate finances where they can help protect worker interests.
Union and worker involvement in corporate buyouts is still pretty rare, but it is increasing rapidly through stock ownership plans, and unions are already major players in some corporate battles, such as the one at United Airlines, where the unions are continuing their effort to win a substantial share of stock for United’s employees.
It is far from certain, but by appealing to workers with consumer-oriented services on a large scale and by expanding their role in corporate leadership, unions may at last stop the downward slide that they have been on for the past four decades.
