Trade Unions and the Unemployed: From Formal Responses to Crisis Management

This chapter compares and analyzes unemployment policies of four unions – service, manufacturing, government, and construction – who function in four different occupational sectors in New York City. A comparative analysis of trade union responses to unemployment in both ordinary and crisis periods shows how union actions vary as economic and political factors affect their organizational stability in various occupational labor markets. Local 259 is a small diversified union that predominately represents auto repair workers at dealerships throughout the New York metropolitan region. Local 259 trace its origins to the industrial labor struggles of the 1930s and openly portray itself as “militant from the start.” For more than 35 years since he assumed the presidency of Local 259, Sam Meyers has voiced his belief that unemployment in minority, poor, and working-class communities is damaging to the prosperity of the union and its members. Meyers says that rising unemployment is continually a source of concern for his union.