Last year, the union membership rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 10.1% — the lowest on record. The absolute number of American workers in unions did grow in 2022 — by approximately 200,000. But the number of non-union jobs grew faster.
Over decades, a boutique of consultants, industrial psychologists, and specialist lawyers--spending an estimated $340 million a year--has played a significant role in subduing the labor movement, and has helped keep U.S. unions pinned down to this day.
According to the latest data, the ranks of unionized workers grew by 200,000 between 2021 and 2022. If the United States’ unionization rules in place weren’t so biased toward bosses, tens of millions more workers indicate they would have joined a union, too.
New Zealand’s experiences highlight that sectoral bargaining — in conjunction with worksite bargaining — is necessary to improve working conditions in today’s economy and thus should be part of policy efforts to strengthen unions.
Profound legal and political changes enacted in 2019 have undermined the monopoly of corrupt protection unions and opened the way for a transformation of Mexico’s labor relations regime.
It’s that time of year when bosses look at their balance sheets and send employees packing. Legally, they don’t even have to explain why—and usually, they don’t.
Railroad workers bargaining for better pay and working conditions are at an impasse with their employers, causing the federal government to intervene to ward off a disruptive strike. But railworkers should be allowed to strike if and when they want to.
Zephyr Teachout, interviewed by Daniel Drake
New York Review of Books
“Surveillance makes worker coordination and solidarity harder, and big data makes capital coordination easier, so the need for both pro-labor and antitrust laws is greater than ever before.”
Worker rights activists are turning to the local level to win protections that are not coming at the Federal level. “It’s not just the coasts..It’s happening in Denver, Chicago, the Twin Cities, smaller municipalities, larger municipalities."
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