This is the final installment in a three-part series by Nick Unger on union structures, labor consciousness and the possibilities of organized labor moving forward. Read Part I: Thoughts on Union Structures, Labor History And Union Member Consciousness and Part II: Hello & Goodbye with Far Too Little In Between for the full picture.

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“Once the Voting Rights Act was passed and people got the right to vote, they stopped sitting in and started voting and that turned out to be much more effective.” -Former Rep. Barney Frank on the CNN series “The 60s”

Much more effective? The millions facing new barriers to the right to vote might question that. Replacing sit-ins with legally protected (a little) voting was a bad idea strategically, tactically and ideologically — and not just in retrospect. We were making progress so we stopped using the tools that worked. When has that ever worked?

But this is a blog about labor, not the civil rights movement. Same point. Replacing sit-down strikes with legally protected (a little) collective bargaining turned out to be effective for a little while. I know capital promptly moved to outlaw sit-down strikes to make a point, but they had never exactly been “legal” to begin with.

The big change was unions now had something to lose: their formal recognition and political acceptance, their institutional structures and treasuries. Before then, they just risked jail. Dylan was right: “When you ain’t got nothing you got nothing to lose.” Modern unions thought they had something to lose. Continue reading Another Look at Labor in Dark Times – Part 3: Glimpses To Make One Less Forlorn →