Why labor unions are more popular than they’ve been in six decades

… Paradoxically, support for unions increases when unorganized workers feel economically secure — not when they would actually benefit most from joining a union.

The explanation for the relationship is twofold: First, some scholarship suggests workers will blame a poor economy on union overreach. More fundamentally, economic insecurity, especially an erosion in one’s material circumstances, makes people begrudge those who they think are better off. Nonunion workers who face hard times may resent the benefits that their unionized peers have. This feeling was evident during the Great Recession debates about the federal government bailout of the domestic auto industry. CONTINUED

Jake Rosenfeld (Washington U.-St. Louis), Monkey Cage


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