What Makes A Union Successful?
On Labor Day, we reprint the following passage from Al Shanker’s “State of the Union” speech at the August 1992 AFT convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Years ago when I was sitting around sort of having a bull session, people raised the question, “What makes a union successful?” Somebody said, “Well, I know what makes a union successful. Look at…” and he named a few unions. He said, “You know what makes a union successful? It’s a union that can really deliver lots of stuff for its members.” Then he mentioned some union that had just gotten a big salary raise and pension benefits and all sorts of other things.
Somebody else who was sitting there said, “You know, I think you’re wrong. It’s really good if the union can
