Posted on: Monday, September 3, 2001

Editorial
Labor today has vital, changing role

Labor Day traditionally brings with it the usual discussion about whether the glory days of organized labor are behind us.

In yesterday's Focus Section, for instance, commentator Bob Dye outlined the struggles faced by Hawai'i's public worker unions as they witness what appear to be take-aways engineered by a Legislature no longer congenitally sympathetic to labor's point of view.

On the opposite page today a pair of articles argue whether labor and the working man and woman is better off today than he or she was a year ago.

There's no question the role of labor nationally — and in Hawai'i — has changed. The primary task of the public worker unions, for instance, appears to be centered on preserving rather than expanding benefits and rights.

A growing number of politicians have convinced themselves that it is no longer sure political death to get on the wrong side of the unions.

And the basic approach of management in both the public and private sectors has shifted. The emphasis now is on performance and competitiveness, whether it is making public workers competitive with the private sector or private workers competitive in a rapidly globalizing economy.

All of this suggests an enhanced role for the labor movement in the first years of the 21st Century, but a role that is substantially different in character and scope.

Unions can no longer be satisfied with protecting rights and jobs for their members and keeping aggressive management at bay. Unions must be increasingly focused on ensuring that their members remain vital and valuable to the employer's long-term goals.

This doesn't mean accepting wage concessions or job conditions that would have once been unacceptable. It means training, skills development, flexibility in work approach and a collaborative spirit that puts management and labor on the same page.

The collective power of labor is an impressive tool. That power must be put to use to make union members ready and able to take on the challenges of a rapidly changing world.