Labor Unions Gain Popularity While Enrollment Falls
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Fresh new data suggests higher support for labor unions than ever before, but participation has fallen in recent years.
A new poll from Gallup (Center bias) says that 71% of Americans approve of labor unions, up from 64% before the pandemic and the highest Gallup has recorded since 1965. Support for unions has increased every year since 2009, according to the data. Americans are supportive of unions, but most aren't part of one. Just 10.3% of the U.S. workforce was enrolled in a labor union in 2021, according to the Labor Department, roughly half of what it was 40 years ago.
Views from fiscal liberals tend to see unions as a crucial way for employees to protect themselves against big business interests, and many criticize work environments and companies that are hostile toward unionization. Several columns published by left- and center-rated outlets focused on signs of optimism in the labor union movement. Some, such as MSNBC (Left bias), highlighted the push by some Starbucks employees for unionization.
Conversely, fiscal conservatives are often critical of unions. Some opinions from the right framed low union enrollment as a sign that unions don't have employees' best interests in mind. One writer for Daily Caller (Right bias) focused their Labor Day column on the plight of small businesses amid high inflation and accused the Biden administration of "using the heavy hand of government" to suppress U.S. entrepreneurs.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
2022 is the most promising Labor Day for unions in several decadesThis is an unusually promising Labor Day for American unions — maybe the most hopeful for many decades — for several reasons.
First, the annual Gallup poll released last week showed a 71 percent public approval rate for unions – the highest level since 1965. The sky-high approval rate is even more remarkable given the organizational weakness of organized labor. Unions currently represent just 10.3 percent of the American workforce.
Second, there’s a mini-organizing wave — driven by worker-organizers, not full-time union officials — taking place across the low-wage service sector. Most notably, workers at 235 Starbucks stores...
From the Center
Union rebound? AFL-CIO’s Shuler sees promise, long road ahead.Anewly released poll heading into Labor Day weekend shows a near-record 71% of Americans approve of labor unions, up from 64% just before the pandemic. Yet that Gallup poll stands in contrast to some raw math: Just 1 in 10 workers on U.S. payrolls are union members, half the level seen four decades ago.
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, wants to bridge that gap – starting by adding a million new people to union ranks over the next 10 years.
As she spoke at a Monitor Breakfast for reporters...
From the Center
A union for thee, but not for meLabor unions are more popular than ever. A recent Gallup poll found support for unions at 71%, the highest it has been since Gallup started asking the question in 1965.
They are enjoying a comeback thanks to highly visible organizing campaigns at Starbucks and Amazon, a tight labor market and concerns around COVID-19 in the workplace. But can their popularity last?
With so few workers belonging to unions anymore, it may be that today’s workforce likes the idea of unions, even if they don’t fully understand the good and bad consequences of...
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