Union responses to mass immigration: The case of Miami, USA

This article places the attitudes of US unions toward immigrants within the context of a "globalized" environment and a contested and problematic hist ory of the US labor movement regarding its conflicting tendencies toward in ternational solidarity and nationalism. Following a review of that history, the article examines the relationships of four unions in the heavily immig rant Miami, Florida area with immigrant workers in the past four decades. T he evidence indicates that explanations for differing responses can be foun d in the union's structure, its external environment, its leadership's visi on and ideology, and its internal "cultural" practices.