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History of Labor Unions in the United States in 1980s

Shu Zhang

Professor Downs

Course: HIST-020

Date: May 31, 2020

History of Labor Unions in the United States in 1980s

The labor unions in United States represent workers in majority of the industries which have membership in the unions and their activities are recognized under the law since they were enacted in the constitution through the enactment of National Labor Relations Act in 1935 (Fox, 2014). The labor unions represent different aspects of the employees to the employers since ancient times and these activities include collective bargaining for fair wages among the emoloyees, the benefits and working conditions for their membership. The labor unions are responsible for representation of the union members when there are disputes between them and the employers and when there is a violation of the contract agreement either by the employee or the employer and they seek an amicanle solution to it (McGrath, 2017). The labor unions also participated and still participate in lobbying activities and electioneering at the federal levels on behalf of the employees who have membership with these unions and whose needs are cattered for by the unions. This makes these unions very important to the employees although they have lost their popularity among employees in United States with time as a result of regulations imposed on them by different governments.

The membership of labor unions in United States has decreased with time and this was majorly recorded in the 1980s. The early 1980s had a large membership of people in trade unions with about a membership of 17.7 million being recorded in 1983 (Fox, 2014). These numbers were a true representation of the employees in United States at the time and it represented more than 20 percent of all the employees in United States at the time (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). The 1980s saw a major shift in employment with employees who had high wages being few and many of the employees having low wages and as a result, they could not meet needs of the unions. Many of the companies closed and others shifted to areas where the unions were less active. The largest blow to the union was experienced in 1981 during the leadershio of president Ronald Reagan who was also a former union president. President Reagan deregulated the companies over objection of unions and this led to breaking of a professional strike by Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) who were fighting for their labor rights, mainly allowances and salaries (Collins, 2015). This was a major blow to them and it resulted into a major blow in the labor union rights which has affected the unions till today.

References

Fox, J. (2014, September 01). What Unions No Longer Do. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/09/what-unions-no-longer-do

Collins, M. (2015, March 19). The Decline of Unions is a Middle Class Problem. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikecollins/2015/03/19/the-decline-of-unions-is-a-middle-class-problem/#455aeca57f2d

McGrath, M. (2017, December 12). Unions Are Dead? Why Competition Is Paying Off for America's Best Workers. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2017/12/12/unions-are-dead-why-competition-is-paying-off-for-americas-best-workers/#3a3e52d5578a

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2019, January 25). Union membership rate 10.5 percent in 2018, down from 20.1 percent in 1983. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2019/union-membership-r HYPERLINK "https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2019/union-membership-rate-10-point-5-percent-in-2018-down-from-20-point-1-percent-in-1983.htm?view_full"ate-10-point-5-percent-in-2018-down-from-20-point-1-percent-in-1983.htm?view_full