Unionized Labor Trends in the United States.
Business owners and employees monitor organized labor union trends very carefully. Business owners are acutely aware of the impact of labor unions on the way that they compensate and benefit employees, and employee/employer rights. Employees are looking at the same topics but from a different perspective. The impact and strength of collective bargaining has had a significant impact on workers rights and improving work conditions in several industries throughout the recent history of the United States. One of the most significant trends noted for unions of today is the steady decline in union membership. .
For the past forty years there has been a steady decline in both union membership and influence. There are several reasons for such a decline :.
the first reason having to do with employers keeping their businesses union-free. Some were active in their opposition and even hired consultants to devise legal strategies to combat unions. Other employers put workers on the management team by appointing them to the board of directors or establishing profit-sharing plans to reward employees. .
The second reason for union decline is that new additions to the labor force have traditionally had little loyalty to organized labor. Because more and more women and teenagers are working and their incomes tend to be a family's second income, they have a proclivity towards accepting lower wages, thus defeating the purpose of organized labor. .
The third and possibly the most important reason for the decline in unions is that they are victims of their own success. Unions raised their wages substantially above the wages paid to nonunion workers. Therefore, many union-made products have become so expensive that sales were lost to less expensive foreign competitors and nonunion producers. This resulted in companies having to cut back on production, which caused some workers to lose their jobs, and as a result, unions some of their members.