The Institutional Logic of Union Organizing and the Effectiveness of Social Movement Repertoires

Abstract

Despite the growing interest in union organizing, there has been little effort to systematically describe the organizing landscape in America today. Institutionalization, which is an increasingly important concept in social movement theory, provides the framework for differentiating between the two major organizing repertoires presently available to unions: the traditional National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certification election and more recent organizing that avoids the election process. Evidence from a sample of 70 large local unions from 1990 to 2001 reveals that, although the certification election continues to be the preferred method of membership recruitment, non‐NLRB organizing appears to be more effective, in terms of both victory rate and number of workers organized. The findings have implications for future research on labor unions and represent an important step toward an empirical understanding of processes of institutionalization within social movements generally.