When Unions Organize Workers and Capitalists: Union Growth, the Trigger Mechanism and Service Employees International Union's Justice for Janitors

Abstract

This article contributes to the study of union renewal. It considers the case of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 32BJ which has grown significantly during a period when the overall labor movement has declined. Local 32BJ's organizing success is explored focusing on the trigger tactic, an overlooked component of SEIU's Justice for Janitors campaigns. Trigger mechanisms take the competitive pressures companies face seriously, recognizing that unionization has costs, and that increased costs are a problem for an individual firm if its competitors are non-union. The trigger tactic binds companies in a given market together to ensure that the bulk of employers go union at once, or not all. This tactic knits together the material interests of workers in different companies and appears to reduce employer opposition to unions. Given its success, SEIU's whole union organizing with a trigger mechanism may offer a potential model for renewal for unions organizing in similar industries.