Immigration and American Unionism

Briggs, Vernon M.

doi:10.7591/9781501722318

Cited by 35 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…Briggs finds that interactions between immigration and unions have been fundamentally adversarial throughout U.S. history. “From the outset, these two forces came into conflict and have remained at odds ever since,” he notes (2001:2) As we will demonstrate, this one‐sided view of immigration and American unionism over time significantly understates competing, pro‐immigration traditions within the U.S. labor movement from its earliest days.…”

Section: Restrictionism and Solidarity: An Unresolved Puzzle In Amerimentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Briggs’ broad brushstrokes are especially problematic when he characterizes the labor movement as unwaveringly supportive of immigration restriction until the late 1980s. “At every juncture prior to the 1980s,” he writes, “the union movement either directly instigated or strongly supported every legislative initiative enacted by Congress to restrict immigration and to enforce its policy terms” (2001:3–4). This is misleading, for it is equally true that at every juncture before and after the 1980s, organized labor has “directly instigated or strongly supported” many national legislative initiatives designed to expand immigrant admissions and rights.…”

Section: Restrictionism and Solidarity: An Unresolved Puzzle In Amerimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But those scholars most explicitly focused on immigration and union density take a quite different position, expecting and finding a negative association between immigration and union density. Briggs’ strong version of the claim is that “… unions thrive (membership grows) when immigration is low or levels are contracting; unions falter (membership declines) during periods when immigration is high or levels are increasing” (2001:3). This judgment follows the logic that immigration increases labor supply and brings a less integrated, economically vulnerable and docile labor pool, thus complicating organizing efforts and weakening the power of workers relative to employers.…”

Section: Does Immigration Lower Union Density?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such time‐series provide plenty of fodder for claims that immigration is bad news for unions, where there appears to be a negative relationship between trends in foreign‐born population or immigration flows and union density (Beck, 2001; Briggs, 2001). For instance the golden age of American unions began only after onset of the immigration‐curtailing Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924.…”

Section: Does Immigration Lower Union Density?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Immigration and the Transformation of American Unionism

Fine

Jacoby

Tichenor

2010

International Migration Review

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Does immigration hamper union organizing in the United States? The prevailing literature strongly suggests that it does and for two reasons: first, immigrants increase the labor pool and diminish union influence over the labor market. And second, immigrants may be harder to organize than native workers. In this dominant view, unions are well served to restrict immigration and have always done so. But how, then, to explain the fact that American labor has long been deeply divided over the response to immigration? Drawing on new archival research and interviews, this paper uncovers a neglected side of American labor history in which many union leaders have extended solidarity to immigrants and sought to organize them. Moreover, analysis of time series data on immigration and union density corroborates the implicit theory of this alternate account of labor history: immigration has, in fact, no statistically significant effect – either positive or negative – on union density over time. Depending on specific conditions and strategies, unions can and have been successful in organizing during periods of high immigration.

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Section: Restrictionism and Solidarity: An Unresolved Puzzle In Amerimentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Restrictionism and Solidarity: An Unresolved Puzzle In Amerimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Does Immigration Lower Union Density?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Does Immigration Lower Union Density?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Immigration and the Transformation of American Unionism

Fine

Jacoby

Tichenor

2010

International Migration Review

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“…From a labor market standpoint, low-wage and unorganized immigrant labor has historically threatened the labor market position of workers and their unions (Briggs, 2001). Boundaries associated with that threat to workers' labor market power and also with racial and ethnic difference coincide with citizenship status, to produce apartheid structures of business unionism.…”

Section: Labor and Citizenship Development Among Mexican Immigrants Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Transnational Citizenries: Reflections from the Field in California

Johnston¹

2003

Citizenship Studies

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Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and Immigration Policy Making in the United States

Peters¹

2014

Int Org

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This article argues that immigration policy formation in the United States after 1950 can only be understood in the context of the increasing integration of world markets. Increasing trade openness has exposed firms that rely on immigrant labor to foreign competition and increased the likelihood that these firms fail. Increasing openness by other states to foreign direct investment (FDI) allowed these same firms to move production overseas. Firms' choices to close their doors or to move overseas decrease their need for labor at home, leading them to spend their political capital on issues other than immigration. Their lack of support for open immigration, in turn, allows policymakers to restrict immigration. An examination of voting behavior on immigration in the US Senate shows that the integration of world capital and goods markets has had an important effect on the politics of immigration in the United States and shows little support for existing theories of immigration policy formation. In addition to increasing one's understanding of immigration policy, this article sheds light on how trade openness and firms' choice of production location can affect their preference for other foreign economic policies as well as domestic policies such as labor, welfare, and environmental policies.

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Immigration and American Unionism

Cited by 35 publications

References 0 publications

Immigration and the Transformation of American Unionism

Immigration and the Transformation of American Unionism

Transnational Citizenries: Reflections from the Field in California

Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and Immigration Policy Making in the United States

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