Gallup has reported that two-thirds of people in the United States approve of labor unions, the highest rating in two decades. And yet, unions represent the smallest share of the workforce in one hundred years—fewer than before there was a legal right to form a union and collectively bargain with an employer. Only one in ten workers in the U.S. are represented by a union, in the private sector it is even fewer: roughly one in twenty (6.2 percent).
With so few union members, even workers who are favorable to unions have little direct experience with the labor movement or the maze of labor relations in this country. What follows is an explanation of the context in which unions operate and why things shaped up the way they did. It is especially important for workers who want to organize and be a part of reviving the labor movement to know how things work and to understand what needs to be different.
Understanding unions in the United States
