September 01, 2006 Most Americans Approve of Labor Unions Say unions benefit the economy, union workers
by Lydia Saad GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- AFL-CIO President John Sweeney is making the case this Labor Day for a change of power in Congress and for expanding the labor movement. Sweeney heralds new census statistics that show real median earnings for working Americans falling in recent years at the same time that the U.S. economy, worker productivity, and corporate profits have grown. The challenging backdrop for Sweeney's campaign is that, according to Gallup's annual Work and Education survey, only 9% of Americans say they belong to a union. At the same time, most Americans approve of unions and applaud the job they do for their members.
Labor Day was first observed more than 100 years ago, and most states were quick to recognize it as an official holiday. That momentum is a distant memory today as only 13% of working Americans tell Gallup that they personally belong to a labor union, and just 17% of all Americans report living in a household in which at least one person belongs to a union. These figures are down sharply from reported figures from the mid-20th century, when more than 30% of U.S. workers belonged to a union. Even as recently as 1983, more than 20% were members.
Public reaction to labor unions is one of the longest running trends The Gallup Poll maintains. The question "Do you approve or disapprove of labor unions?" was first asked in 1936, a year after Congress passed the Wagner Act establishing the right of most private-sector employees to join unions, to bargain collectively with their employers, and to strike. That first poll found 72% of Americans approving of unions and only 20% disapproving.
Broad support has been maintained ever since, although to varying degrees. Approval of unions was greatest in the 1950s (coincident with the peak of union membership in the United States), when the approval figure reached 75%. The low point was 55%, recorded in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, perceptions of labor unions are still positive but on the lower end of the range, with 59% approving and 29% disapproving.
There is some variation in public support for unions, particularly based on political orientation. Three in four Democrats (76%), but only 42% of Republicans, say they approve of labor unions. Consistent with geographic patterns in partisanship, approval is higher in the East (67%) and West (64%) than in the Midwest (57%) or South (52%). Lower-income Americans are more supportive than either middle- or upper-income Americans.
Most Consider Unions a Positive
Despite labor's small membership base today, most Americans not only approve of labor unions but also believe unions are generally helpful to workers who are union members, helpful to companies where workers are organized, and helpful to the economy. Only when it comes to the interests of non-unionized workers does a majority of Americans believe unions are harmful.
Seven in 10 Americans (71%) believe unions mostly help unionized workers, while 21% think they mostly hurt them. At least half of Americans also believe unions are mostly helpful to the companies where workers are unionized (50%) and to the U.S. economy in general (53%). However, only 33% of Americans believe unions mostly help workers who are not unionized; the majority (51%) say unions mostly hurt these workers. None of these attitudes has changed appreciably since first measured in 2001.
Naturally, adults living in union households are more positive than members of non-union households about the value of unions on all of these dimensions. Still, a solid majority of those in non-union households believe that unions are mostly beneficial to union workers.
Who Belongs?
Approximately one in eight working adults in the United States (13%) belongs to a labor union, which translates into 9% of all Americans. Union membership skews heavily toward government-sector jobs, in large part because of teachers' unions.
Only 16% of all U.S. workers surveyed by Gallup are employed by the government at any level (federal, state, or local), compared with 39% of unionized workers.