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- Title
Assessing the Proposed IAM, UAW, and USW Merger: Critical Issues and Potential Outcomes.
- Authors
CLARK, PAUL F.; GRAY, LOIS S.
- Abstract
This article assesses a proposed merging of International Association of Machinists (IAM), United Auto Workers (UAW), and United Steelworkers (USW). Since the announcement, the IAM, UAW, and USW have quietly been negotiating a merger agreement. The unions originally set the year 2000 as the target for completion of the merger, leaving a five-year period in which to finalize the details. In October 1998, the President of the IAM suggested that the merger would not be completed before 2002. By all indications, the unions will need this extra time to come to an agreement. The unification of the UAW, USW, and IAM, if realized, would be an important and historic event in the history of the modem American labor movement for several reasons. First, the sheer size of the union to be created, probably over two million members, and the potential that such a mega-union has for concentrating resources and power in pursuit of its goals, is significant. Second, unlike many of the defensive union mergers and affiliations in recent years that have involved unions that were no longer viable, this merger appears to be more of an offensive merger, involving unions that have remained relatively stable in recent years. And third, if this merger is completed, it may provide a model for other American unions at a time when the labor movement is going through a period of significant restructuring.
- Subjects
MERGERS &; acquisitions; INTERNATIONAL Association of Machinists &; Aerospace Workers; INTERNATIONAL Union, United Automobile, Aerospace &; Agricultural Implement Workers of America; UNITED Steelworkers of America; LABOR unions; LABOR movement
- Publication
Journal of Labor Research, 2000, Vol 21, Issue 1, p65
- ISSN
0195-3613
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s12122-000-1004-5