The University of Texas at Austin

Future of Labor Unions: Organized Labor in the 21st Century

Unions have played a key role in shaping the economic, industrial, and political systems of all industrialized democracies. They have provided a voice for workers on the job, and they have fought for liberal and progressive ideas in democratic governments and in society. Indeed, a basic democratic industrial principle is the impossibility of having free and democratic societies without free and democratic labor organizations.

In this volume of essays, leading union, management, and academic experts with diverse views examine the future of unions. The consensus of the contributors is that labor organizations are as important in modern economies as they were in mass production systems, but their viability depends on developing the appropriate structures and policies to represent workers' interests under modern conditions. There is also agreement that democratic institutions and shared prosperity require the United States and other countries to reform their policies to help workers organize to protect and promote their workplace as well as their political and societal interests.

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