Bill Schurgin Quoted in Corporate Legal Times (CLT)

In rounding up the "Top 20 Events, People and Stories of 2005," the CLT noted the fracture within the AFL-CIO as a major event that affected in-house counsel in 2005.

In "Union Uprising," the CLT notes: "Dissatisfied with the AFL-CIO's declining membership and stodgy leadership, nearly half of the members of the nation's largest union packed their bags and left the 50-year-old labor federation. In July and August, seven unions - including the Teamsters, the Service Employees International Union, UNITE HERE and the United Food and Commercial Workers International - formed the Change to Win Coalition, a new labor federation comprised of nearly 6 million members. The dueling organizations were initially expected to butt heads, but recently there have been talks about maintaining amicable relations. In October, AFL-CIO president John Sweeney announced that the break-away unions have considered a tentative deal to work in conjunction with the AFL-CIO on the state level while continuing to operate independently on the national level.

Whereas many projected the split would weaken the strength of America's labor movement, the new-found competition for membership and money between the two federations may actually fuel a resurgence in unionized labor. According to Bill Schurgin, a partner with Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago, employers can expect to feel the effects of increased organizing efforts and greater attempts to increase bargaining leverage. "Employers need to do an assessment as to whether there are any potential vulnerabilities within their workforce that need to be addressed," Schurgin says. "Unions today are placing a much greater emphasis on organizing and representing employees in industries that cannot easily move jobs overseas." '