The Crisis in American Labor: An Interview with Sam Gindin
The class war against workers demands a class response.
Sam Gindin is a labor activist who spent more than twenty years as an economist and researcher for the Canadian Auto Workers. Currently he teaches at York University in Toronto along with Leo Panitch, Greg Albo, and a remarkable array of radical scholars and intellectuals. He is also a frequent contributor to the indispensable Socialist Register, whose 2013 edition includes his excellent essay “Rethinking Unions, Registering Socialism.” It’s a must read for anyone concerned about the future of the labor movement in America. Gindin is also the co-author of The Making of Global Capitalism.
In January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that US union membership in 2012 shrunk to its lowest level in a century. Sam was gracious enough to agree to an email interview with Jacobin contributing editor Chris Maisano to discuss the ongoing crisis in American labor and possible paths to renewal.
Chris Maisano
Recently, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that union membership in the US reached 11.3% in 2012, the lowest level since 1916. This is far below the level reached in the early 1950s, when about one third of American workers were union members. What happened?
Sam Gindin
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