Performing Work without Doing Jobs

Abstract

Plant closings and the widespread disappearance of industrial jobs have severely strained the American labor movement. To successfully recruit the millions of workers in service and other expanding occupations, some observers have proposed that unions adopt a form of occupational unionism that would seek to unite members around the sort of broadly conceived work that they do rather than the narrow job duties they perform at a specific work site. This article looks 10 years into the future. It presents an interview with a fictional labor leader who has embraced the model of occupational unionism, contributing to a dramatic revival of union size and influence. It is impressionistic and suggestive, not comprehensive. It is a blending of fact and fiction based on the author's projections of how advanced technology, skill-related initiatives, and research findings in cognitive science could contribute to a resurgent labor movement. The two government programs cited, skill standards and the school-to-work initiative, are real, in their early stages of evolution.