Union Solidarity: The Internal Cohesion of a Labor Union

Union Solidarity was first published in 1952. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.

A realistic knowledge of basic attitudes held by labor union members is essential to all who are concerned with social and industrial relations. Labor leaders, employers, public relations counselors, sociologists, and psychologists will find this book useful because it demonstrates how to obtain and evaluate authentic data regarding the factors which contribute to or detract from the solidarity which is manifested by organized workers. As a systematic study of the way in which a worker relates himself to his union, based upon the measurement of workers reactions, Dr. Rose's report presents a new type of research in industrial sociology.

This socio-psychological study of the membership of a large union local throws light on such fundamental questions as how union members feel toward their leaders, what the members' attitudes toward their fellow unionists are, and to what extent loyalty to a union affects loyalty to an employer.

For his significant study, Dr. Rose chose the membership of Teamsters Local 688, the largest union local in St. Louis, as his subject. The study had the complete backing of the union. A survey of other available studies shows that the attitudes and problems examined are characteristic of the great majority of unions and their members.

Important findings of the study reveal how union leaders can educate their members toward specific viewpoints, what kinds of union activity and achievement are most responsible for a union's internal strength, and how criticism of a union on the part of its members can be compatible with basic loyalty to the union.