Gregg Zachary recently attended the AFL-CIO convention in New York City and reports that with not a moment to spare, unions are reviving and mass organizing is occurring in the private-sector at the highest pace since the 1930s. Still, he cautions: "Unions could fail in any number of ways to take advantage the rising militance of workers with low or declining wages. Hidebound unions in construction and heavy industry might call more suicidal strikes, ignoring the proven alternative of mobilizing the entire community -- consumers, church groups and other progressive organizations -- against employers....Ego-maniacal union presidents, meanwhile, might continue to build their private empires, eschewing the kind of coordinated efforts among unions that might expand the membership pie rather than shuffle the existing pieces."
