Question

Explain this statement "The future of our labor unions, will only get worst". why ?

Answer 1

Labor unions are well past their golden age. For the last five-six decades, labor unions are constantly on a decline. There has been a sharp decline in the union membership in the same period. In 2013, the total number of union members in the USA was 14.5 million as compared to 17.7 million in 1983. In percentage terms, labor union membership reduced from 20.1% of the workforce in 1983 11.3% of the workforce in 2013. This trend is expected to continue in the future and labor unions will see worse days in terms of their membership, organizational strength, bargaining power, relative importance in the overall economy, ability to influence labor supply and productivity etc.

The decline of the labor unions has been triggered by various factors, such as:

1) Decline in the popularity rating of the unions

2) Technological change posing threat to manual workers

3) Improvement in working environment

4) Employers deploying strategies to reduce bargaining power of unions

5) Legislations like the  Taft-Hartley Act

6) Globalization and international trade  

These reasons are still valid and these will continue to be strong to cause a faster decline in labor unions in the future.