AFTER organized labor's smashing victories in the November elections, much of management is looking across the ruins of right-to-work proposals into the new labor-leaning Congress and expecting the worst. At close range, unions appear to be moving into a more powerful position than ever. But some labor leaders are looking at an entirely different side of the picture. Says A.F.L.-C.I.O. Industrial Union Research Director Everett M. Kassalow: Unions face "a crisis of truly historic proportions."
The crisis lies in the fact that automation and technological breakthroughs have sharply reduced the ranks of...