And sweatshops that exploit vulnerable and unorganized immigrant workers are again alive and malignantly well in New York City.
Among the unorganized workers in textile mills and auto factories, managers campaigned to win the control of the production process that the scientific-management pioneer Frederick Taylor had insisted was their right and duty.
Unions welcome the chance to go after a huge new pool of unorganized workers.
But they can also improve morale and productivity and set an enviable model for unorganized workers.
Hundreds of volunteer member organizers have arranged worker-to-worker contacts between Teamsters and unorganized workers in the same craft.
Skilled workers, subject to the same 'de-skilling' threat that their Russian counterparts were just beginning to experience, joined with previously unorganized workers in large factories to challenge the caution of the old artisan-dominated labour movement.
In the 1960s, as social history gained popularity, a new emphasis emerged on the history of workers, including unorganized workers, and with special regard to gender and race.
To counter AFSCME's rapid growth, Hardy adopted a strategy of affiliating existing members rather than organizing unorganized workers.
"My brothers and sisters," Mr. Sweeney said in a speech before the race began, "the problem with the labor movement is that we are irrelevant to the vast majority of unorganized workers in the country."
These are short-term advantages; what will count in the long run is whether Mrs. Dole grasps the changing needs of a changing American work force, especially unorganized workers at the margin of the economy.