Reconstructing Construction Unionism: Beyond Top-Down and Bottom-Up

The decline of the US organised labour movement is an oft-told tale. Total membership declined from 21 million in 1979 to 15.7 million in 2007, with density dropping from 24.1% to 12.1% (Hirsch and MacPherson 2008b). Even these gloomy numbers hide a harsher reality. In the same years, private sector membership fell from 15.1 million to 8.1 million, with density plunging from 21.2% to 7.5%. Only an increase in public sector members saved unions from greater decline. In 1973, the 3.1 million public sector members comprised only 17% of all members. In 2007, they numbered 7.5 million, now 48% of the total. Only one private sector industry has experienced significant union growth — construction. Paralleling other unionised sectors, construction union membership dropped from 1.6 million in 1973 to 1.45 million (1979) to 1.14 million (1989) to 0.9 million in 1992. However, membership rose to 1.276 million in 2001, an increase from 1992 of 0.37 million or 41%. In addition, with a 2007 membership of 1.193 million, the construction unions have largely maintained hold of that growth through two economic downturns.1 By contrast, despite all the attention rightly paid to the innovative tactics used by SEIU’s Justice for Janitors campaign, the number of unionised janitors declined from 0.39 million in 1993 to 0.37 million in 2001 and 0.31 million in 2007.