美國的工會受法律認可為代表勞工利益的組織。工會行使集體協商權，為會員談判勞動條件、工資、福利；並監督、糾正雇主違法或違背勞動契約的管理行為，必要時以爭議行為作為談判籌碼。較大的工會還會透過政治遊說或競選，影響美國聯邦政府及各州政治人物的決策。

大多數美國的工會都是兩個大型工會聯盟的會員工會，分別是 1955 年成立的美國勞工聯合會 - 產業工會聯合會（AFL-CIO），與 2005 年自 AFL-CIO 分家的變革謀勝工會聯合會。兩者都主張自己代表美國和加拿大勞工的政治利益，積極從事政治遊說工作。其中，AFL-CIO 特別關注全球貿易議題。

1983 年時，美國的工會共有 1,770 萬名會員，工會組織率為 20.1%；然而 2013 年卻僅剩 1,450 萬名會員，工會組織率僅有 10.8% 民營事業單位的工會組織率甚至僅有 7%，創下 1932 年來的最低紀錄。與其它國家相比，2013 年時法國的工會組織率為 7.7%、德國為 18.1%、加拿大為 27.1%，冰島更以 85.5% 的工會組織率冠居全球。以統計數字而言，美國勞工參與工會的比例顯著偏低。美國的工會組織率與雖大幅滑落，但仍能透過群眾動員或跨領域結盟（例如與移民權益、貿易政策、健康照顧與維生工資等議題團體合作），對美國政治有一定程度的影響力。其中，美國的工會尤其關注各級政府因預算縮減，產生勞工退休金減少或延遲給付等問題。 如有茶黨背景的共和黨籍威斯康辛州州長斯考特・沃克就曾透過刪減預算限制公部門工會的集體協商權。

21 世紀的美國工會運動以公部門受僱者，如公務員、教師、消防員、警察、清潔隊員等勞工為主力。此外，工會會員不成比例地以年長、男性勞工居多，且以美國東北部、中西部及加州勞工為主。 整體而言，一個美國工會若能掌握工作和勞動市場特性，平均而言能讓工會會員比非會員多 10－30% 工資；而在工會組織率較高的州，其勞工比其它州份的勞工有較高的收入和生活水準。國際貨幣基金組織則進一步將美國的收入差距問題，歸因於美國整體的勞工運動與工會組織率衰退所致。



歷史

19 世紀中葉，工業革命對人類經濟、社會帶來巨大變革，勞資關係逐漸受到社會矚目，工會也隨之誕生。美國早期的工會誕生於南北戰爭之後，1880 年代的勞動騎士團是美國最具影響力的勞工團體，但因組織鬆散、缺乏有效領導中心和組織目標不一致等因素，並受到資方和政府聯手打壓而解散。

1886 年，龔帕斯創立美國勞工聯合會，創立時仍是不同職種的地方工會組成的鬆散團體，透過協調、支持勞工罷工發展茁壯，如今已是美國最具影響力的工會團體。

1930 年代，美國第 32 任總統富蘭克林・德拉諾・羅斯福推行新政，其中《華格納法案》保障工會的組織權利，促使美國勞工擴大團結、提升組織率。因此，美國的工會在政治上多傾向民主黨，在羅斯福時期更加入新政聯盟，支持羅斯福勝選連任。

二戰後

1946 年，親商的保守派政治人物在選舉中大勝，美國國會在 1947 年通過共和黨籍參議員羅伯特・A・塔夫脫起草的《塔夫特 - 哈特萊法案》。該法案不只受到共和黨人支持，連多數民主黨人也贊成該法案；即使時任美國第 33 任總統的哈瑞・杜魯門動用否決權，仍遭跨黨派議員組成的保守聯盟推翻。《塔夫特 - 哈特萊法案》禁止工會向候選人提供政治獻金、以「危害國家安全」之名提高工會發動罷工的門檻，並強迫工會除名有共產主義傾向的幹部（後美國最高法院裁定該條款違憲，不再適用）；因而遭到美國工運圈強力抵制，但仍無力回天。國會在 1959 年通過《勞資關係報告法》，要求美國各級工會需向美國勞工部繳交年度報告，以限制有犯罪前科者擔任工會管理職務，從而加強聯邦政府對國際卡車司機工會等工會的行政控制。

美國的工會組織率在 1954 年達到高峰，為 35%；而工會會員人數則以 1979 年最多，達 2,100 萬人。其後人數因民營部門工會組織不易逐年下滑。



參見


* Labor federation competition in the United States

* Union affiliation by U.S. state

* Public-sector trade unions in the United States

歷史


* 美國勞動史

* 美國工會時間軸

* 工業關係委員會

* 因勞資爭議而去世的美國勞工列表

國際


* 世界產業工人



參考文獻



參考書目

調查報告


* Arnesen, Eric, ed. _Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History_ (2006), 3 vol; 2064pp; 650 articles by experts excerpt and text search （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Beard, Mary Ritter. _A Short History of the American Labor Movement_ 1920 - 176 pages online edition （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Beik, Millie, ed. _Labor Relations: Major Issues in American History_ (2005) over 100 annotated primary documents excerpt and text search （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Boris, Eileen, and Nelson Lichtenstein, eds. _Major Problems In The History Of American Workers: Documents and Essays_ (2002)

* Brody, David. _In Labor's Cause: Main Themes on the History of the American Worker_ (1993) excerpt and text search

* Browne, Waldo Ralph. _What's what in the Labor Movement: A Dictionary of Labor Affairs and Labor_ (1921) 577pp; encyclopedia of labor terms, organizations and history. complete text online （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Dubofsky, Melvyn, and Foster Rhea Dulles. _Labor in America: A History_ (2004), textbook, based on earlier textbooks by Dulles.

* Dubofsky, Melvyn, and Warren Van Tine, eds. _Labor Leaders in America_ (1987) biographies of key leaders, written by scholars excerpt and text search （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* LeBlanc, Paul. _A Short History of the U.S. Working Class: From Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century_ (1999), 160pp excerpt and text search （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Lichtenstein, Nelson. _State of the Union: A Century of American Labor_ (2003) excerpt and text search （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Perlman, Selig. _A History of Trade Unionism in the United States_ 1922 - 313 pages online edition （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Taylor, Paul F. _The ABC-CLIO Companion to the American Labor Movement_ (1993) 237pp; short encyclopedia

* Zieger, Robert H., and Gilbert J. Gall, _American Workers, American Unions: The Twentieth Century_(3rd ed. 2002) excerpt and text search （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Zieger, Robert H. _For Jobs and Freedom: Race and Labor in America Since 1865_ (2007) excerpt and text search （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

1900 年


* Commons, John R. _History of Labour in the United States_ - vol 1 and Vol. 2 1860-1896 (1918) vol 2 online edition （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） (note spelling of "Labour")

* Commons, John R. "American Shoemakers, 1648-1895: A Sketch of Industrial Evolution," _Quarterly Journal of Economics_ 24 (November, 1909), 39-83. in JSTOR （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Commons, John R. ed. _Trade Unionism and Labor Problems_ (1905) articles by experts on unions and working condition online edition （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Grob, Gerald N. _Workers and Utopia: A Study of Ideological Conflict in the American Labor Movement, 1865-1900_ (1961) online edition （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Hall, John P. "The Knights of St. Crispin in Massachusetts, 1869-1878," _Journal of Economic History_ 18 (June, 1958), p 161-175 in JSTOR （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Laslett, John H. M. _Labor and the Left: A Study of Socialist and Radical Influences in the American Labor Movement, 1881-1924_ (1970) online edition （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Mandel, Bernard. _Samuel Gompers: A Biography_ (1963) online edition （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Orth, Samuel P. _The Armies of Labor: A Chronicle of the Organized Wage-Earners_ (1919) short popular overview online edition

* Taillon, Paul Michel. _Good, Reliable, White Men: Railroad Brotherhoods, 1877-1917_ (2009)

* Taft, Philip Taft and Philip Ross, "American Labor Violence: Its Causes, Character, and Outcome," in _The History of Violence in America: A Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence,_ ed. Hugh Davis Graham and Ted Robert Gurr, 1969. online edition （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Van Tine, Warren R. _The Making of the Labor Bureaucrat: Union Leadership in the United States, 1870-1920_ (1973) online edition

* Voss, Kim. _The Making of American Exceptionalism: The Knights of Labor and Class Formation in the Nineteenth Century_ (1993) online edition （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Weir, Robert E. _Beyond Labor's Veil: The Culture of the Knights of Labor_ (1996) online edition （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Bibliography of online resources on railway labor in late 19th century （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

1900 年–1932 年


* Bernstein, Irving. _The Lean Years: A History of the American Worker, 1920-33_ (1966)

* Brody, David. _Labor in Crisis: The Steel Strike of 1919_ (1965)

* Dubofsky, Melvyn and Warren Van Tine. _John L. Lewis: A Biography_ (1986)

* Brody, David. _Labor in Crisis: The Steel Strike of 1919_ (1965)

* Faue, Elizabeth. _Community of Suffering & Struggle: Women, Men, and the Labor Movement in Minneapolis, 1915-1945_ (1991)

* Fraser, Steve. _Labor Will Rule: Sidney Hillman and the Rise of American Labor_ (1993)

* Gordon, Colin. _New Deals: Business, Labor, and Politics, 1920-1935_ (1994)

* Greene, Julie . _Pure and Simple Politics: The American Federation of Labor and Political Activism, 1881-1917_ (1998)

* Hooker, Clarence. _Life in the Shadows of the Crystal Palace, 1910-1927: Ford Workers in the Model T Era_ (1997)

* Laslett, John H. M. _Labor and the Left: A Study of Socialist and Radical Influences in the American Labor Movement, 1881-1924_ (1970)

* Karson, Marc. _American Labor Unions and Politics, 1900-1918_ (1958)

* McCartin, Joseph A. _Labor's Great War: The Struggle for Industrial Democracy and the Origins of Modern American Labor Relations, 1912-1921_ (1997)

* Mandel, Bernard. _Samuel Gompers: A Biography_ (1963)

* Meyer, Stephen. _The Five Dollar Day: Labor Management and Social Control in the Ford Motor Company, 1908-1921_ (1981)

* Mink, Gwendolyn. _Old Labor and New Immigrants in American Political Development: Union, Party, and State, 1875-1920_ (1986)

* Orth, Samuel P. _The Armies of Labor: A Chronicle of the Organized Wage-Earners_ (1919) short overview

* Quint, Howard H. _The Forging of American Socialism: Origins of the Modern Movement_ (1964)

* Warne, Colston E. ed. _The Steel Strike of 1919_ (1963), primary and secondary documents

* Zieger, Robert. _Republicans and Labor, 1919-1929._ (1969)

早期文獻


* Gompers, Samuel. _Seventy Years of Life and Labor: An Autobiography_ (1925)

1932 年 - 1955 年


* Bernstein, Irving. _Turbulent Years: A History of the American Worker, 1933-1941_ (1970)

* Boyle, Kevin. _The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945-1968_ (1995)

* Campbell, D'Ann. "Sisterhood versus the Brotherhoods: Women in Unions" _Women at War With America: Private Lives in a Patriotic Era_ (1984).

* Dubofsky, Melvyn and Warren Van Time _John L. Lewis_ (1986).

* Faue, Elizabeth. _Community of Suffering & Struggle: Women, Men, and the Labor Movement in Minneapolis, 1915-1945_ (1991), social history

* Fraser, Steve. _Labor Will Rule: Sidney Hillman and the Rise of American Labor_ (1993).

* Galenson, Walter. _The CIO Challenge to the AFL: A History of the American Labor Movement, 1935-1941_ (1960)

* Gordon, Colin. _New Deals: Business, Labor, and Politics, 1920-1935_ (1994)

* Jensen, Richard J. "The Causes and Cures of Unemployment in the Great Depression," _Journal of Interdisciplinary History_ 19 (1989) p. 553-83

* Kennedy, David M. _Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945._ (1999) recent narrative.

* Lichtenstein, Nelson. _Labor's War at Home: The CIO in World War II_ (2003)

* Lichtenstein, Nelson. _The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor_ (1995)

* Miller, Sally M., and Daniel A. Cornford eds. _American Labor in the Era of World War II_ (1995), essays by historians, mostly on California

* Seidman; Joel. _Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen: The Internal Political Life of a National Union_ (1962)

* Vittoz, Stanley. _New Deal Labor Policy and the American Industrial Economy_ (1987)

* Zieger, Robert H. _The CIO, 1935-1955_ (1995)

公平就業委員會


* Collins, William J. "Race, Roosevelt, and Wartime Production: Fair Employment in World War II Labor Markets," _American Economic Review_ 91:1 (March 2001), pp. 272–286

* Kersten, Andrew Edmund. _Race, Jobs, and the War: The FEPC in the Midwest, 1941-46_ (2000) online review

* Reed, Merl E. _Seedtime for the Modern Civil Rights Movement: The President's Committee on Fair Employment Practice, 1941-1946_ (1991)

塔夫特 - 哈特萊法案與全國勞工關係法


* Abraham, Steven E. "The Impact of the Taft-Hartley Act on the Balance of Power in Industrial Relations" _American Business Law Journal_ Vol. 33, 1996

* Ballam, Deborah A. "The Impact of the National Labor Relations Act on the U.S. Labor Movement" _American Business Law Journal_, Vol. 32, 1995

* Brooks, George W., Milton Derber, David A. McCabe, Philip Taft. _Interpreting the Labor Movement_ (1952)

* Gall, Gilbert J. _The Politics of Right to Work: The Labor Federations as Special Interests, 1943-1979_ (1988)

* Hartley Jr. Fred A., and Robert A. Taft. _Our New National Labor Policy: The Taft-Hartley Act and the Next Steps_ (1948)

* Lee, R. Alton. _Truman and Taft-Hartley: A Question of Mandate_ (1966)

* Millis, Harry A., and Emily Clark Brown. _From the Wagner Act to Taft-Hartley: A Study of National Labor Policy and Labor Relations_ (1950)

早期文獻


* Christman, Henry M. ed. _Walter P. Reuther: Selected Papers_ (1961)

1955 年至今


* Bennett, James T., and Bruce E. Kaufman. _What do unions do?: a twenty-year perspective_ (2007)

* Dark; Taylor E. _The Unions and the Democrats: An Enduring Alliance_ (1999)

* Dine, Philip. _State of the Unions: How Labor Can Strengthen the Middle Class, Improve Our Economy, and Regain Political Influence_ (2007)

* Fantasia, Rick, and Kim Voss. _Hard Work: Remaking the American Labor Movement_ (2004)

* Galenson, Walter; _The American Labor Movement, 1955-1995_ (1996)

* Goldberg, Arthur J. _AFL-CIO, Labor United_ (1956)

* Leiter, Robert D. _The Teamsters Union: A Study of Its Economic Impact_ (1957)

* Lichtenstein, Nelson. "Two Roads Forward for Labor: The AFL–CIO's New Agenda." _Dissent_ 61.1 (2014): 54-58. Online

* Lipset, Seymour Martin, ed. _Unions in Transition: Entering the Second Century_ (1986)

* Mort, Jo-Ann, ed. _Not Your Father's Union Movement: Inside the AFL-CIO" (2002)_

* Rosenfeld, Jake. _What Unions No Longer Do._ (Harvard University Press, 2014) ISBN 0674725115

* Yates, Michael D. _Why Unions Matter_ (2009)



外部連結


* AFL-CIO official Web site （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Change to Win Federation official Web site （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* The Challenges of Today's Labor Unions （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* The Cost of a Decline in Unions （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） (February 2015), Nicholas Kristof, _The New York Times_

* The incredible decline of American unions, in one animated map （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） (February 2015), Ana Swanson, _The Washington Post_

* What Happened to Unions in the Midwest? （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） (Feb. 2015), Melanie Trottman and Eric Morath, _The Wall Street Journal_

* Unions still matter （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） (April 2015), Sean McElwee, _Al Jazeera America._

* Americans Don't Miss Manufacturing – They Miss Unions （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）. FiveThirtyEight, May 13, 2016.