YOUTH ORGANIZING: Are younger workers more open to unions?
In a poll by Peter D. Hart Research Associates Inc. for the AFL-CIO, 51% of 462 potential union members said they definitely or probably would vote against a union if an election was held tomorrow. But of workers under 35 years old, 53% would vote for a union. The result matches a similar poll from two years ago.
But why? Potential reasons vary, from a lack of loyalty for employers to a lack of memory of the big union-corruption scandals of decades past. For young workers, "unions are cool," says Andy Levin, an AFL-CIO organizing official, who cites turnout by pierced and tattooed 20-somethings at a recent Washington labor demonstration. Randel Johnson, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official, says it shows older workers, "the most experienced in the workplace, are less inclined to join a union."