Recessions Bad News for Unions
Published September 08, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
I find this depressingly curious:
"for every point's worth of increase in the unemployment rate, approval of labor unions goes down by 2.6 points." The inestimable Nate Silver leaves us alone to stew over these results from Gallup, which find that support for organized labor in the US has fallen below 50% for the first time. Worse, respondents clearly think unions are on the decline.
There's a lot of issues I support that sometimes leave me feeling like an out-of-touch academic or hippie, and organized labor is one of them. But I am genuinely at a loss for what people think is a better solution for worker empowerment and protection. I agree with those who eschew some of the existing unions and their problematic history (to put it mildly): putting whites before interracial solidarity, putting specific unions before cross-sector solidarity. But the fundamental value of collective bargaining, of strength in organized workers, seems sacrosanct to me. Union members earn one-third to one-half more than their non-union counterparts. I wonder how many respondents know that.
The results suggest that people believe unions have more power than they do, and that the decline of organized labor is a reinforcing trend. If you scroll down to the bottom of these Gallup results, you'll see how few people have a union member living at home, yet more than 4 in 10 believe unions have too much political influence. It must have been the immediate passage of the Employee Free Choice Act under President Obama that has shifted the tide against them.
Wait a minute...!
We need to shift public opinion on unions, especially as they continue to enroll more women and men of color. (The decline of white union membership is surely influencing these Gallup results.) The future of organized labor, like the future of our country, is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic one. We cannot abandon our commitment to worker protections and worker empowerment just because it no longer serves white men.
Why do you think public support for unions has declined?
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Comments (2)
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Author
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Leigh is a PhD candidate in urban planning at MIT, and a consultant on U.S. Gulf Coast recovery. She sits on the Board of the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation in Boston, and has worked with non-profits, foundations and local governments on policies and programs aimed at reducing urban poverty and inequality.
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I know what I hear a lot around Seattle. Basically, it's Republican propaganda. Unions are why American companies tanked or went overseas or had to outsource or the cause of unemployment, etc. Can't possibly be corporate greed or other corporate attitude problems behind those problems now could it?
Frequently the anti-union rants are paired with pro-free-market rants. Like unfettered capitalism would "solve everything". I'm thinking these people slept through the Bush Admin. because there was very little to no regulation and it's pretty easy to see where it got us...
Ask any worker who's ever had a low wage job or even just a bad boss. Many would happily tell you we're no where near "past a time where unions are useful and have a place". Heck, I could have used a union as much in IT as in fast food. Perhaps more so. But at the only "normal job" (meaning not temp or independent contractor) I had, the union considered the System Admins part of management (how they figured THAT I'll never understand). Abuse of workers by management is rampant. Removing the one group advocating FOR workers isn't going to fix abuse by management and we certainly can't afford to remove the unions while enforcement of labor laws is so poor and haphazard.
On a related note, you might want to look at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009822384_kent08m.html It's not that unions are dead, it's that people in many cases hate them, take a look at the forum while you're there.
Posted by Danetta Amschler on 09/08/2009 @ 08:48AM PT
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America was big afther world war 11,Europe was all most destored [well its abality for mass production,along with japan] for some reason Red-China stayed out.For a long long time the anglo-saxton [europe mind,ed thinking people] have been runing this nation[america] but some where along the way they forgot about Geroge washington,BEN FRANKLYN,John Hancock,the Boston Tea Party,the Revaluation,that broke ties with Grate Britan.with All the money that was made rebuilding europe,an japan,union,s became large while the middle class [the working anglo-saxton male] tried or did keep other men out,but afther Dr.King ,an womens lib let us not forget Jimmy Hoffer,the hippie.When better pay became a reality for a lot more people than the anglo-saxton male.Now that BIG BUSINESS have again got control again afther the grate Deperison,and greed there MASTER words like HUMANITARIAN dont mean a thing,but unions did make life better for a lot of people.ther is still problems,so thank god for math due to the fact it teach yuo how to solve problems.
Posted by Benjamin Hughes on 11/04/2009 @ 12:34PM PT
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