Smaller Unions Pursue Mergers To Gain Clout With Employers

[Omaha Steve]

must pay a fee to read the full article at WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/google_login.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB115490735102228276.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsj

Smaller Unions Pursue Mergers To Gain Clout With Employers
By Kris Maher
Word Count: 773 | Companies Featured in This Article: Northwest Airlines, AK Steel Holding, Walgreen
Facing tough concessionary demands from employers, some independent unions are merging with bigger unions to gain access to more-experienced labor lawyers and negotiators, as well as larger strike funds and broader support in case of strikes or walkouts.

While neither unions nor the federal Department of Labor tracks the numbers of independent unions that join bigger unions each year, recent moves suggest a shift is under way as a number of smaller unions, looking for clout, agree to become a local of a larger union, much as an acquired business becomes the operating unit of a larger company. Such mergers ...

[two gun sid]

1. I agree with merging small Unions into large...

it would work great if the locals were able to take care of the everyday issues that come up and then at contract time the bigger Union would handle collective bargaining.