Economic Woes, Distrust of Big Business - and Strong Support for Unions

By James B. Parks

Workers' support for unions in the USA has surged in the wake of corporate scandals.

The ENRON, WorldCom and Arthur Andersen scams cost employees their jobs, pensions, savings and benefits while CEOs walked away with millions.

By a two to one margin, respondents to the survey said they felt less secure than in January 2001. For the first time since the AFL-CIO began tracking workers' attitudes toward union representation, more non-union workers say they would vote "yes" than "no" in a representation election in their workplace. Corporate reform - the goal of the union movements "No More Business As Usual" campaign - is a high priority among US workers. By a two to one margin respondents say government is too concerned with the interests of big business and wealthy special interests. A large majority say they would be more likely to vote for a political candidate who took the position that employees should be protected in employer bankruptcy and have the same protections as CEOs.

(America@work October 2002)