Dani -

In the US, the employees of a company must petition for recognition of a union. Generally a petition signed by a certain percentage of employees must demand a vote by the employees, at an election set at a specified later time, at which only employees may vote. Under the most optimistic conditions, it takes about a year, sometimes much longer, from the time a signed petition is presented to get to a vote by the potential membership.

It is generally a condition in most states that one must be an employee to participate in the creation of a union, and one can only become a member of the "bargaining unit" by becoming an employee.

Whether a member of a union can remain a member if employment ceases varies from one state to another, depending on whether the state regulations permit only "open shop," "union shop," or "closed shop" unionization, and on the form of organization adopted by a successfully organized individual shop union.

As long as a particular place has a "revolving door" employment policy, there is no stable group of employees who can organize sufficiently to petition, hold an election, and then accomplish the only effective action a union can accomplish, negotiation of a contract for terms and conditions of employment.

Many jobs like the warehouse job described are operated essentially as "day work," with employees for a given day "selected" at the beginning of each shift from the mob at the front door. The person who worked the prior shift may have "preference" and some expectation of having a job at the next shift only because it reduces the minimal paperwork required to have a name, address, next of kin, and in some cases evidence of legal status, that is on record from the previous day for those who worked previously.

If there is no stable set of employees with expectation of continued employment, there is little possibility of creating a new union at that place of business. The legal requirements for forcing a company to accept a union take longer than the period for which anyone who signs a petition can expect to remain an employee and eligible to vote when the "union election" finally may occur.

It is possible in most states to have a "skilled trades" union that unemployed persons may join, and the entertainement industries are fair examples. Once such a union reaches a certain level of influence, they may be able persuade some employers to hire only union members; but the original organization of one of this kind remains virtually impossible without a sufficient number of employees at a few places who are able to form shop unions, with subsequent expansion into a "trades" status by affiliations between the original unions at individual places of employment.

Organizing a union anywhere in the US is an exceedingly difficult task, and where employement is "transitory" it is, as a practical matter, nearly impossible.

While it's technically illegal for an employer to ask if an applicant is a union member (except in the few "closed shops" where only union members may be hired), it's relatively easy to identify those who are, and the mob outside, in cases like at the warehouse, can be made aware that non-members are preferred (as long as no one in management says it out loud). Joining into an organization makes them less likely to get a job, and hence less likely to be willing to participate in any kind of organization, until, perhaps, the employment situation become exceedingly more desparate - in terms of total class warfare - than is the case now anywhere in the US that I've heard about.

John