Labor's Options

Archive Report

Problems Facing Organized Labor

Labor day 1976 will be more than just another occasion for honoring American workers. Organized labor's influence on the nation's political and economic well-being is heightened this year by the conjunction of a presidential campaign with a still-shaky economic recovery. Wage demands and strikes by both private and public employees this year often have been viewed as a threat to price stability. Labor's image has also been marred by government investigations of union corruption, a citizen backlash over public-employee assertiveness, and reports of dissension within unions.

But despite these and other problems, the unions remain strong. Organized workers account for about 25 per cent of the nation's labor force and their numbers alone—about 25 million—give the unions considerable political leverage. Labor's influence ...

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