American Trade Unions

Introduction

American trade unions served as a crucial segment of civil society enriching our democracy. Most of the social legislation that has built a better civilization, came about because of the strong political support of labor unions. “Social Security, Medicare, environment laws, wage and hour laws, the ban on child labor and free public elementary education garnered strong support from unions” (Stern, 2013). Many corporations and political opponents have argued over its current usefulness, but none can deny its initial impact. American trade unions were vital in developing standards of living by creating, growing and maintaining the middle class. The many pieces of legislation stemming from union lobbying even benefited Americans without union membership.

Unions played a principle role in the establishment of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, which gave workers the right to be represented by a union in collective bargaining with their employer. Union efforts were also responsible for getting the Wages and Hours Act passed in 1938, which normalized work weeks, helped reduce both union and non-union workers hours from 60 hour/six day work weeks to the 40 hour/five day work weeks of today.

The union establishment has been met with many challenges throughout American history which has ultimately effected membership numbers. “In 2012, the union-membership rate of wage and salary workers was 11.3 percent, compared with 11.8 percent in 2011. The trend has been downward for some time: Fifty years ago, the figure was almost 30 percent” (Warner, 2013).

There are several reasons for these decreases. The loss of jobs in labor-friendly manufacturing sectors coupled with the retirement of aging members can be viewed as one reason. Young people joining unions at lower rates than previous generations and the rise of right-to-work laws, which prohibits union membership as a condition of employment, has also contributed greatly to its decline. The modern workplace provides most of the benefits previously advocated for by unions- a safe working environment, benefits, fair wages and protection from discrimination and harassment.

The fluctuations in union membership vary by state with the smallest percentages aggregated in the southern region. The state with the lowest percentage of all union membership is North Carolina, with an overall percentage of 3.1. Though it is difficult to pinpoint the exact reason for such low membership, it is safe to assume that some of the aforementioned reasons for nation-wide union apathy are applicable in North Carolina. Are the explanations of low membership directly related to right-to-work laws or has the culture in Carolina simply been one to always reject the idea of unionization? Whatever the reason(s), the history, resistance and apathy towards unionizing should provide insight on how it has almost been impossible for unions to infiltrate