A February, 2003 poll by Peter Hart & Associates found that 53% of U.S. workers would vote “YES” in a union representation election. Yet union membership (as a percentage of the U.S. workforce) has declined steadily over the last 20 years to 13% overall and less than 9% in the private sector in 2002.
Why aren’t more Americans joining unions? A major reason is the increasingly widespread use of anti-union tactics by employers.
A study of 407 National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) union representation elections by Prof. Kate Bronfenbrenner of Cornell University for the U.S. Trade Deficit Review Commission found that 84% of employers broke the law during union organizing campaigns.
The Cornell study also found:
51% of employers made threats to close all or part of a plant (or worksite) during the union organizing drive.
The plant closing threat rate is significantly higher— 68% —in “mobile” industries such as manufacturing, communication, and wholesale/distribution, compared to a 36% threat rate in industries such as construction, health care, education, retail, and other services.
In 18% of the campaigns with threats, the employer directly threatened to move to another country if workers voted to unionize; Mexico was the country most mentioned in plant closing threats.
25% of employers illegally fired union supporters during organizing campaigns.
Source: “Uneasy Terrain: The Impact of Capital Mobility on Workers, Wages, and Union Organizing,” Kate Bronfenbrenner, Cornell University, September 2000
