Headline hook you? No, I'm not saying that labor unions in the United States are strengthening. In fact, while 50 years ago one out of three U.S. workers belonged to a union, today, about one in 10 are union members. This decline is no accident: Beginning in the 1970s, organized labor began to become obsolete in this country as management, and government, addressed many of the historical concerns of labor. In many ways management and labor came together as one united front to fight competition from abroad. And, unions in many cases have done themselves harm, too-for example, many looked out only for the interests of senior members by accepting two-tier contracts that gave new and younger workers lower wages and fewer benefits. Finally, many believe simply that the job of U.S. unions largely was done by the late '70s, and that the government eventually took on many of the things the unions were sold to the rank and file to do-namely protect workers from unsafe working conditions. Lawyers, HMOs and insurance companies, along with government OSHA inspectors, now handle that load.
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