The Rise and Fall of the Unions' Empire: The Political Quandary

An analytical appraisal of the state of unions in the United States, including a detailed history of their rise, evolution and eventual decline.

Tull is a lifelong union man who’s now the retired president of a unionized construction company; he also has a doctorate in business administration, with a specialization in labor relations. His debut is both a history and a diagnosis, chronicling the development of unions in the United States as well as dissecting the contemporary diminishment of their power. When unions first emerged as a response to an economy radically transformed by the Industrial Revolution, they were hailed as instruments of worker protection and social progress, supported by both political parties. However, they also cultivated public suspicion and were often seen as self-interested cabals of greed, communist sympathizers and opponents of free trade. Today, unions suffer from steadily declining membership; increases in low-skilled, immigrant labor; the staunch opposition of the Republican Party; and a massively shifting economy. Tull provides a comprehensive overview, detailing major victories such as President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 executive order certifying collective bargaining as a legal right and defeats such as President Ronald Reagan’s rough treatment of striking air-traffic controllers in 1981. The work touches upon several current controversies with delicacy and aplomb, such as the legality of the “card check” method of labor organizing, the prevalence of right-to-work laws and the productivity of strikes. He also discusses, with unusual candor, the important distinction between public and private unions, acknowledging the excesses of the former. Although he’s a committed union supporter, his evenhanded treatment of the issues is admirable. For example, during a discussion of charter schools, one of the highlights of the book, he bluntly criticizes teacher unions: “If the teachers’ unions are not willing to relax their unreasonable demands, they will find themselves continuing to lose membership.” In the final analysis, Tull argues that even Democratic Party dominance of Congress and the executive branch wouldn’t be enough to revitalize unions in the United States: They’ll need a thoroughgoing self-reinvention to become relevant again.

A sober, refreshingly nonpartisan discussion of the place of unions in the modern economy.