The Power of Unions

Unions appear in the Pew research as a natural counterweight to big business. Contrary to the opinions of those who contend that unions drive labor costs up and make U.S. industry uncompetitive, unions appear virtually blameless (6%) in the Pew survey of who’s to blame. Indeed, people see unions closer to the solution.

A Gallup survey of adults in August 2007 found 60% approval of labor unions and only 32% disapproval, and that Americans want unions to have more influence (35%), not less (28%). An older survey by Gallup in August 2005 revealed that “in labor disputes,” people’s sympathies tend to be “on the side of unions” (52%) not “on the side of the companies” (34%).

More recent polling of adults by Peter Hart for the AFL-CIO in December 2006 revealed that people want to join unions: 53% of non-union, non-managerial workers would vote to join a union if they could; 42% would not. People recognize collective action as the natural counterbalance to big business, and they support labor law reform that will result in more workers being able to bargain with their employers for better wages, benefits and working conditions.