Foreword
The ranks of organized labor in the United States rose by 428,000 workers in 2008, the biggest annual gain since the government began compiling such data in 1983. Yet union membership overall remains low, accounting for only 12.4 percent of employed wage and salaried workers — well below the peak of 35 percent during labor’s heyday in the 1950s.In recent years, unions have moved aggressively to bolster organizing efforts and, emboldened by the election of a Democratically controlled White House and Congress, hope for the enactment of new laws that will help them achieve their goals. Topping their list of…
