Autoworkers are the latest to spotlight the power of US labor. What is the state of unions today?

[Omaha Steve]

https://apnews.com/article/auto-workers-unions-strikes-uaw-contract-agreements-c7ddf64cfd40922b2b35172d806c8c08

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
Updated 9:29 AM CDT, October 31, 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. labor unions are once again flexing their muscles in the national spotlight.

The United Auto Workers’ tentative agreements with Detroit’s Big Three automakers could end the union’s six-week strike. Gridlock persists in Hollywood between actors and major studios, while hospitality workers in Las Vegas, Detroit, Southern California and beyond are fighting for better pay and protections.

But despite historic walkouts and record contract deals seen this year, there’s a lot stacked against labor organizers. Union membership rates in the U.S. have been falling for decades due to changes in the economy, employer opposition, growing political partisanship and legal challenges.

“Even though we’re seeing stronger support for unions, (with) the highest popularity of union favorability in polls since at least the 1960s, translating the worker desire for representation into actual representation is really hard under our current system,” Alexander Colvin, dean of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, told The Associated Press earlier this month.

FULL story at link above.