Unions garner public approval, 59 percent approved 29 percent disapproved

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/259051.html

RANDOLPH HEASTER LABOR SCENE
Unions garner public approval
By RANDOLPH HEASTER
The Kansas City Star

As the number of union members in this country continues to decline, the number of Americans who like unions continues to be a strong majority.

Last week’s Gallup Poll taken before the Labor Day holiday showed that 60 percent of adults in the U.S. approve of unions, compared with 32 percent who disapprove. Both figures were up slightly from last year, when 59 percent approved of organized labor and 29 percent disapproved.

Those numbers have been pretty consistent for 35 years.But union membership has been in a long decline since the 1970s. The latest Labor Department report showed that 12 percent of employed workers in the U.S. belonged to a union last year, falling from 12.5 percent in 2005.

Union membership in the private sector was 7.4 percent. The rate for government workers, however, was 36.2 percent in 2006.

What has led to this paradox of Americans favoring unions?

The simple answer is this country’s lax labor laws, said one expert.

“The chances of successfully being able to realize your rights as a worker are more difficult in the U.S. than in any other industrialized country,” said Judy Ancel, director of the Institute for Labor Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

FULL story at link.