What factors caused the decline of workers unions
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A big part of it is actual laws which inhibit the ability to recruit more members or go on strike. For instance, most states ban a workplace from requiring employees to join the union. This might sound reasonable, but it indirectly weakens unions by having a shop with both union and non union employees. The nonunion employees will benefit from the unions’ activism but aren’t contributing dues-this can cause people to feel like paying dues is a waste of money. And when it comes to going on strike, you would not believe the hoops you have to jump through to make the strike legally happen, such as “a strike requires permission from management in order to be approved”. This is in part why there were a bunch of wildcat strikes in teachers unions during the pandemic-members wanted to go on strike but for various bullshit reasons they weren’t *allowed* to do so.
The government can and will also intervene on management’s behalf which also weakens unions. Railroad workers wanted to go on strike but the Biden Administration balked at risking 1/3 of all freight traffic grinding to a halt. When management knows workers do not have the political means to agitate for better wages they are in a better position to exploit workers and fire/blacklist anyone that complains.
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