What Americans want isn’t what Trump’s doing

More than a crazy numbers game, the last couple of months in the new Trump administration has been chaos without rules, and human beings are affected, not numerals. Still, please excuse the reliance on the numbers to follow.

Locally, at press time, the un-elected, non-governmental “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) lists 24 federal spaces to be closed, including Peoria offices of the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Attorneys, and U.S. Trustees. Also, the status of TSA workers at the General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport is unknown, as are about 20 jobs at Peoria’s Ag Lab.

Similar cuts, probably illegal if not unconstitutional, continue.

Nationally, the stock market is volatile. The S&P 500 has lost more than $3 trillion in value since its all-time peak in February, Reuters reported; U.S. consumer confidence this winter dropped by 7 points to 98.3 (the largest monthly decline since August 2021), according to the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index; and MarketWatch said this is the worst start to a presidential  term since 2009, when the subprime mortgage crisis hit.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, told the Washington Post that “business leaders, CEOs and COOs are nervous, bordering on unnerved, by the policies that are being implemented, how they’re being implemented and what the fallout is. There’s overwhelming uncertainty and increasing discomfort with how policy is being implemented.”

Historian Heather Cox Richardson added, “Government failure, stock market crash, and dictatorial alliances are not popular. People are starting to realize that there is no truth here beyond the desire for personal wealth and power.”

Indeed, few Americans signed up for what’s erupting from Washington, D.C., according to multiple public-opinion polls. We’re not the crazy ones.

What people actually prefer is dramatically different than what President Trump is trying to enact.

Generally, according to polls taken by CNN, Fox News, Gallup, NPR, Pew, Quinnipiac, YouGov and others, between 60% and 70% of Americans support Medicare for All, term limits for the U.S. Supreme Court, and legal abortion; 70% to 80% of us back labor unions, a higher minimum wage, student debt relief, higher taxes on the wealthy, money out of politics, and we believe the climate change is real; and more than 80% want free pre-Kindergarten and more gun control laws.

Yet, Trump is somehow emboldened by an imaginary “mandate” (his vote total was 49.8% compared to the 50.2% tallied by Kamala Harris combined with independent candidates), plus the Right-wing Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 playbook, various compliant billionaires, and spineless people on Capitol Hill who in the 1940s might have been called “collaborators.”

However, only 35% of American adults say Trump is “honest and trustworthy” (Washington Post-Ipsos)

Here are other examples from polls in recent weeks:

* 82% of Americans favor deporting undocumented immigrants – but that’s if they’ve been convicted of violent crimes (AP-NORC).

* Just 29% of us support eliminating federal jobs (Associated Press-NORC).

* 52% of U.S. adults think Trump has gone too far in using presidential powers (CNN).

* 67% of us think cutting USAID funds will lead to more illness and death in low-income countries (KFF Health).

* Only 13% support Elon Musk’s influence over the executive branch (YouGov), and just 12% think billionaires should be advising the White House (AP-NORC).

* 28% favor changing the Constitution to end birthright citizenship (AP-NORC).

* In Trump’s bizarre foreign affairs ideas, 60% of Americans have “no interest” in taking over Canada (Angus Reid Institute); just 29% are OK with seizing Panama’s Canal (Reuters-Ipsos) and even fewer, 16%, support grabbing Greenland (also Reuters-Ipsos); and 68% view Russia as “unfriendly” or an “enemy” (NBC News|SurveyMonkey) and 52% of us support Ukraine in its war with Russia (CBS/YouGov).

* Just 20% support quitting the Paris Climate Agreement (AP-NORC), and a whopping 55% prefer alternate energy sources such as wind and solar to expanding oil and gas production (AP VoteCast).

* Concerning Medicaid, 40% of us want the funding to remain the same, with 42% wanting it to be increased.

* 83% of us opposed pardoning those convicted in the Jan. 6 insurrection (Washington Post-Ipsos).

* only 23% of us support restricting women from military combat (Scripps News/Ipsos).

* 72% of Americans view the Postal Service favorably (Pew).

 

Ryan Mac, who co-authored “Character Limit,” a book about Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, has said that creating confusion is part of the point, asking, “What happens when there is unfettered capitalism that allows people to accumulate this much money and this much power?”

The American people aren’t the ones who are unhinged.

‘Fired up!’ to fight back

Early evening last month, a stream of vehicles entered the parking lot at the United Auto Workers hall in East Peoria, and within a half hour more than 100 people had showed up for a meeting of the Fired Up for Democracy committee. As unionists, veterans, Millennials and seniors took seats, the crowded gathering started to develop an air of collective resolve and joy – an inspiring blend of revival meeting, barn-raising and potluck dinner.

In some ways, the dozens of people, shrugging off their coats and visiting, mirrored similar actions from coast to coast, Americans are increasingly fighting the flood of actions from Washington D.C., with boycotts, protests, lawsuits all seeming to be having as impact. Popularity polls show Americans’ opinions of the new administration and its “adviser” Elon Musk dropping.

At the east-side table, Mari Osborne checks a computer, a colleague at her left elbow, and a screen behind her.

She’s ready.

After the November election, many felt deflated as well as defeated. Osborne says she was disappointed, too, but decided to do what she did when she worked some 30 years for Children’s Miracle Network.

Organize.

“We knew we needed to keep meeting,” she says, noting there was a time when she wasn’t very occupied in current events.

“I was happily not involved in politics,” Osborne says. “I started really paying attention when I heard a co-worker’s disgust that Obama was elected. I was really surprised – he wasn’t even sworn in yet, and people were already ‘hating’ on him. I was disappointed.

“I got involved with Tazewell County Democrats in 2019,” she continues. “I volunteered to organize the parades that we participate in. Speaking of parades: We need parade participants. You can walk or ride on the trailer. It’s a good time and good camaraderie with upbeat music and most of the people along the parade route are very friendly and welcoming.”

But now, this fourth meeting of the small-d democratic grassroots group – working with a growing group of activists from Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford Counties – is building on a handful of souls to take action

“It’s getting together and sharing ideas and just supporting each other,” Osborne says. “We have an amazing group of people coming together, opposing the new administration and the Project 2025 that they are slamming us with.

“So many newcomers!” she adds. “People want to do something!”

There’s a lot to do, they say.

Summarizing the first month of the new administration, In These Times magazine writer Luis Feliz Leon said, “Since taking office, Trump and his effective co-president Elon Musk have mounted a frontal assault on workers through executive actions, aimed at rooting out disloyal workers in the federal workforce, illegally firing members of the National Labor Relations Board, dismissing a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and threatening to freeze funding for health care, education, transportation and other services – while also conducting immigration raids that have ensnared U.S. citizens and stoked fears of racial profiling.

“Whatever you call it – a hostile takeover, a blitzkrieg – the effect is the same: Overwhelm workers and befuddle the opposition as billionaires carry out a rolling coup,” he continued. “In terms of union organizing, you could liken the volleys of attacks from the Trump White House to bosses holding the country’s working class in a massive captive-audience meeting, using shock-and-awe tactics to divide us up.”

Here, Fired Up get-togethers continue to concentrate on what can be done locally. An average 8 or 10 candidates or those thinking of running for office usually attend, Osborne says. And tonight, Jim Efaw from Woodford encouraged those considering seeking office to do so, and offered ideas – even for last-minute candidacies weeks before April 1’s local elections.

A key, he said, was to build a network, including labor unions.

“Unions are very supportive,” Efaw says. “You don’t have to be a union member. Just be sane … not anti-union.”

Fired Up is developing a program by focusing on voter engagement, precinct-level education and recruiting. and youth outreach.

“We’re training people to contact Congress to voice our concerns and thank those who stand with us.”

Other presentations range from building a core of volunteers, using social media like BlueSky and Instagram, and coordinating with groups with common interests, from national organizations like the ACLU, Indivisible and the League of Women Voters, to Tri-County independents and Republicans.

“We appreciate all the folks supporting this committee, including our union members and veterans – and Republicans who have had a change of mind and heart are welcome.”

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich recently said, “The battle of our day is no longer about Democrats versus Republicans or Left versus Right. The choice right now is democracy or dictatorship. And we're sliding faster than I ever thought possible into the latter. Everyone must choose which side they’re on. Now.”

Indeed, after Trump’s UN representative voted with Russia, North Korea and other Moscow-friendly countries against a resolution condemning Russian invasion of Ukraine and calling for the occupied territory to be returned, former Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman, an Air Force vet and National Security contractor from Virginia, said, “Make no mistake – the U.S. is now the bad guy. We are aligned with Russia.”

Here, good-guy Americans hold up each other. Collegiality blends with determination, and civility with humor (like Fired Up’s rousing singalong of “Runaround Sue,” with new lyrics about Trump).

“We want to keep pushing, keep getting stronger, and keep getting better,” Osborne says.

Elsewhere, although national GOP leaders told Members of Congress not to have town-hall meetings, some lawmakers are. U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who’s been in office since 1997, said that for the first time ever he needed an overflow room recently for one of his “coffee with your congressman” events, as about 700 people showed up.

“Something is happening in this country,” McGovern said. “People have had enough of Trump’s cruelty and lies.”

Last month, demonstrators protested at the office of U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-16^th District) in Normal, and like-minded Illinois activists filled a meeting hall in Elizabeth (in Jo Daviess County) to discuss next steps.

In East Peoria on this winter night, emotions run the gamut: enthusiastic and despondent, hopeful and fearful, but Osborne remains ready.

And steady.

“We’re excited, I’d say,” Osborne says, smiling. “And optimistic.”

Osborne invites others eager to be Fired Up for Democracy to email her: Firedupci@gmail.com.

Unions face new threat from a familiar foe: Right To Work (for less)

An old labor battle has been renewed, emboldened by President Trump, “adviser” Elon Musk and the agenda favoring billionaires over working people: The revival of a national Right To Work law has returned like a zombie, eyeing a feast on a popular and reinvigorated labor movement.

A month into Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, the president had:

* fired, furloughed or forced thousands of federal employees to quit,

* fired National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo and Acting General Counsel Jessica Rutter,

* discharged NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox, leaving the NLRB without a quorum and therefore unable to conduct business (which the courts recently found illegal),

* terminated two members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, also leaving it without a quorum.

* named Elisabeth Messenger, the head of an anti-union group (Americans for Fair Treatment) as director of the Office of Labor-Management Standards,

* appointed controversial safety and health chief at UPS, David Keeling, to head OSHA, and

* nominated ex-Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer as Labor Secretary.

 

Trump’s supposedly moderate Republican nominee for Secretary of Labor, Chavez-DeRemer once co-sponsored the PRO Act labor reform bill, but last month revealed her true self. In a hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) asked if Chavez-DeRemer no longer backed the PRO Act language overturning Right To Work, and Chavez-DeRemer replied that she “fully” supported states that “want to protect their Right To Work.”

In the Nation magazine, John Nichols said, “With that exchange, Chavez-DeRemer marked herself as a more ardently anti-union nominee for Secretary of Labor than most previous occupants of the position.”

(The Philadelphia AFL-CIO Council was more direct, tweeting, “How very not pro-worker of you, Lori.”)

On Feb. 12, Sen. Paul and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) introduced the National Right-to-Work Act (S. 533 and H.R. 1232) “to preserve and protect the free choice of individual employees to form, join or assist labor organizations, or to refrain from such activities.” 

In states with Right-To-Work (RTW), workers in unionized workplaces can opt out of paying union dues while still benefiting from the union's collective bargaining efforts, getting something for nothing since unions have a legal obligation to represent everyone in their bargaining units, whether or not they’re union members

Advocates claim that Right To Work laws attract businesses and create jobs, presumably because blocking unions from collecting dues to cover the costs of representing workers keeps unions weak or prevents workers from organizing – keeping wages low.

But when New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch vetoed a state RTW measure in 2011, the Democrat commented, “In my time as a CEO, in my years spent in the private sector turning around companies, and in my seven years as Governor, I have never seen the so-called Right-To-Work law serve as a valuable economic development tool.”

According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), RTW states “have lower unionization rates, wages and benefits compared with non-RTW states.

“RTW laws are designed to diminish workers' collective power by prohibiting unions and employers from negotiating union-security agreements into collective bargaining agreements, making it harder for workers to form, join and sustain unions,” EPI’s 2024 study added. “Consequently, workers in states with RTW laws have lower wages, reduced access to health and retirement benefits, and higher workplace fatality rates. On average, workers in RTW states are paid 3.2% less than workers with similar characteristics in non-RTW states, which translates to $1,670 less per year for a full-time worker.”

The new bill would remove provisions in the National Labor Relations Act and court rulings letting collective bargaining agreements to contain “union security” language requiring workers covered by the contract to pay union dues or “fair-share/agency dues,” which are a fraction of dues covering union representation (not lobbying) for workers who decline to be union members.

 

RIGHT-TO-WORK BACKGROUND

Currently, 26 states have RTW laws, changes that occurred over decades.

In the 1930s, the Great Depression and labor unrest led to reforms in government policy, such as President Roosevelt’s New Deal, part of which eventually included the landmark National Labor Relations Act (NLRA, the Wagner Act). In Capitol Hill debates, the bill’s main sponsor, Sen. Robert Wagner (D-NY) “at no time suggested or contemplated that state legislatures could interfere with federal jurisdiction over union security,” according to Colorado state University researcher Raymond Hogler. Nevertheless, “the resulting corporate opposition to the NLRA was immediate, massive and unstinting.”

In the 1940s, anti-union legislative efforts spread throughout Southern states, using states’ rights and racism (plus support from the Ku Klux Klan) to pressure lawmakers or voters to pass RTW laws or state amendments. Ultimately, Congress in 1947 approved the Taft-Hartley Act, which prohibits contracts requiring employers to fire workers who refuse to join the union.

A key RTW figure was Vance Muse, “an oil lobbyist and outspoken racist and antisemite,” wrote Daryl Newman, Secretary-Treasurer of the Michigan AFL-CIO. “In 1936, he testified in front of a U.S. Senate committee that he was ‘for white supremacy.’ Muse warned via campaign literature that white and Black workers would have to call each other ‘brother’ or lose their jobs.

“What Muse and others realized was that racism in the workplace makes it harder for workers to come together in solidarity,” Newman continued. “By dividing workers along racial lines, CEOs and special interests could succeed in maximizing corporate profits by preventing workers, now infighting over race, from standing together to fight for better working conditions.”

The campaign spread from the Deep South.

“Muse led the efforts of ‘Christian Americans’ to pass state-level legislation to limit the growth and strength of unions,” said William Spriggs, a Howard University economics professor and economist for the AFL-CIO. “The movement went to Kansas in the 1950s, where the Right To Work movement was led by Fred Koch, a co-founder of the John Birch Society and precursor of the Koch brothers. Kansas passed its Right To Work law in 1958.”

Rand’s move is reminiscent of those ties between Southern businesses (promoting division in work forces rather that union solidarity), the Klan, neo-Confederate interests, and Right-wing groups such as the John Birch Society, Tea Party and, arguably, the MAGA GOP. (Past Republican leaders opposed RTW, including Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan.)

 

4a1      “Right-To-Work basically allows workers to use union services – including contracts which improve living and working conditions and defense against corporate greed, favoritism, exploitation and unfair discipline – without paying one red cent for them, in either union dues or fair-share fees,” explained Press Associates Inc. editor Mark Gruenberg.

4a2      “Right to work does have one policy consequence that can be confirmed by empirical analysis,” Hogler said. “Right to work causes union decline. Right To Work laws reduce the ability of unions to organize workers and to develop workplace institutions conducive to collective bargaining.”

 

 

ILLINOIS DOUBTFUL ‘SAFE HAVEN’

Despite Illinois’ Workers Rights Amendment, approved by voters in 2022, and state laws supporting workers’ rights, Illinois probably won’t be a refuge for Illinois unions.

“Under the Collective Bargaining Freedom Act (820 ILCS 12/15), Illinois has allowed private employers to enter into contracts with unions that require all covered employees to be union members,” said Peoria attorney Andrew McCall. “If Congress passes the National Right-to-Work Act, its supporters will contend that federal law displaces contrary state laws under the Supremacy Clause in Article VI, section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. In addition, the Illinois law expressly references the scope of its compelled union membership as being to the ‘full extent authorized’ by the National Labor Relations Act, the very law that the National Right-to-Work Act would amend.”

“Right To Work does have one policy consequence that can be confirmed by empirical analysis,” Hogler said. “Right To Work causes union decline. [Such laws] reduce the ability of unions to organize workers and to develop workplace institutions conducive to collective bargaining.”

McCall sees legal challenges ahead.

“If the National Right-to-Work Act is enacted, we should expect lawsuits from unions that may raise a number of arguments, including that Congress exceeded its authority. Such arguments against the new law, however, will face their own challenges. In addition to the Supremacy Clause – which has federal law displace contrary state laws – the Contract Clause in Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution bars states, not the federal government, from passing laws that alter existing contracts. While this contested issue may well end up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, for private-sector employers and private-sector employees, it seems more likely than not that the Court would find this issue as a political one to be resolved by Congress rather than the courts.”

Illinois schools could be affected by weakening Dept. of Education

The Trump administration is reportedly drafting an Executive Order aimed at dismantling some or all of the U.S. Department of Education, and although Presidents cannot eliminate a federal agency created by Congress (like the DoEd, in 1979), Trump could try to cut its budget or staff.

So despite most funding for public education from pre-school through higher education coming from local taxes and state fundings, there are concerns.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker last month called federal assistance vital to families.

“If they take that away, that’s going to be highly detrimental to the people of our state,” he said. “So, I’m going to do everything I can to preserve that funding. I hope that that does not end up being a target of their attacks.”

The Department of Education has about 4,000 employees operating a $79 billion budget, helping students with special needs and children from low-income households, plus managing federal student loans and collecting and distributing research on learning, teaching testing and more.

Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect says targeting researching and reporting in the name of efficiency could be government removing pesky facts it would rather not disclose, from inflation and climate change to workplace safety and public schools’ “best practices.”

Silencing education could be disastrous.

“As a percentage of the current yearly federal budget of $6.8 trillion, axing those particularly targeted employees would reduce federal spending by roughly zilch,” he writes. “But if the ‘counting’ agencies are among those targeted for decimation, that ‘zilch’ can be promoted as constituting gazillions.”

Targeting DoEd is unpopular, too.

“Only 29% of Americans support abolishing the Education Department,” notes Urban League President Mark H. Morial. “In fact, nearly 70% of voters want to see education funding increased.”

To absent friends, and better times

With all the chaos and evil around us all, I need additional stimuli to balance the outrage and sorrow so many Americans feel.

Fortunately, the National Pastime resumes this month, in stadiums and sandlots, and in hearts and minds longing for innocence and purity at a time of depravity and greed.

As baseball approaches, everything seems fresh and new (if cold and dormant); everyone has an equal change (depending on off-season acquisitions and injuries), and the possibilities are endless (at least through 162 games).

I miss all that.

And more.

To rekindle my love for the game before Major League Baseball starts March 18 with the Cubs playing the Dodgers in Tokyo, I’m re-reading some of the great comments about baseball that three late pals and I shared in 20 years of pilgrimages to Opening Day at Wrigley Field.

A few favorites that still soothe me:

* “The strongest thing that baseball has going for it today are its yesterdays,” said Lawrence Ritter, author of The Story of Baseball.

* Baseball Hall of Fame owner of the White Sox, Indians and Browns Bill Veeck (whose memoir was Veeck as in Wreck), described baseball as “played by people, real people, not freaks. Basketball is played by giants. Football is played by ... hulks. The normal-sized man plays baseball and the fellow in the stands can relate to that. Destiny has become less manageable, and consequently life has become … more difficult. Baseball is

almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can’t get you off.”

* Novelist Thomas Wolfe (Look Homeward Angel and You Can’t Go Home Again) said, “One reason I have always loved baseball so much is that it has been not merely ‘the great national game,’ but ... a part of ... our lives, of the thing that is our own … the million memories of America. Almost everything I know about spring is in it – the first leaf, the jonquil, the maple tree, the . . . grass upon your hands and knees, the coming into flower of April. And is there anything that can tell more about an American summer than ... the smell of the wooden bleachers in a small town baseball park, that resinous, sultry and exciting smell of old dry wood.”

* And playwright William Saroyan (The Human Comedy and The Time of Your Life) wrote, “Baseball is caring. Player and fan alike must care, or there is no game. If there’s no game, there’s no pennant race and no World Series. And for all any of us know there might soon be no nation.”

I sure miss the nation we happy few Cubs fans shared, especially between 1987 and 2006 in Chicago openers.

I miss the game itself and the warmth we somehow felt freezing in the grandstand, and the beer and cigars and laughter and playfulness.

I miss my friends and the camaraderie.

I miss my country.

I still care.

Voter turnout can be key, but it’s often disappointing

There are probably several factors that lead to lower voter turnout in some elections. Obstacles to Getting Out The Vote range from apathy and poverty to a lack of transportation (especially in rural areas or communities without public transportation), dissatisfaction with choices and limited exposure to engagement – particularly in 'off-year' elections with no presidential contest, and consolidated local elections.

In those, such as Illinois’ April 1 election, political parties, candidates and news media spend less time and money on effective communications to the public.

The United States is behind many other countries in voter turnout, so even when turnout improves – like in 2020 and 2024, according to the Pew Research Center – the USA is in the middle of the pack.

At the top of the 51 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation (OECD), Pew’s listed the turnout rate for six nations (Uruguay, Turkey, Peru, Indonesia, Argentina and Sweden) as better than 80%.

At the bottom of the OECD list are Costa Rica, Croatia, Luxembourg, South Africa, Bulgaria and Switzerland, all with about 52% or less.

The United States sits at Number 32 with a 62.8%

There is a slight difference between what’s a turnout – the percentage of those who registered (and therefore at some point intended to vote), and the percentage of those of the voting age of 18 (and presumably could vote). So in Peoria County since 2020, turnouts of the percentage of registered voters who cast ballots fluctuated between 16.19% to 72.56%.

The Consolidated General Elections of 2021 and 2023, like the April 1 contest, averaged 16.8, compared to the general elections of 2020, 2022 and 2024 averaging 63.82.

However, the most recent Census estimate of Peoria County’s population is 177,163, with 42,248 residents younger than 18 years old. Therefore, about 135,265 are age-eligible to vote, and since the Peoria Election Commission reports 117,217 registered voters, more than 18,000 Peoria County adults are not even registered.

In November, about two-thirds of voting-age citizens cast ballots, meaning tens of millions did not. Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris 77,302,580 to 75,017,613 (49.8% to 48.3%), according to the Federal Election Commission, reporting the total as 152,320,193 – 98.1% of all votes for president.

Meanwhile, the nonpartisan independent election organization Ballotpedia reported that another 2,895,872 votes went to 22 other candidates with at least 359 votes – such as Jill Stein (Green Party), RFK Jr. (independent), Chase Oliver (Libertarian), and Cornel West (independent) – and write-ins nationwide.

Americans who could vote but didn’t may be a significant political group.

“The 2016 election also highlighted the political impact of non-voting,” writes columnist and cartoonist Ted Rall. “Non-voters skewed Democratic [according to Pew Research], accounting for 55% as opposed to 41% for Republicans. Hillary Clinton lost because she wasn’t able to motivate enough of her own party’s supporters.

“Non-voters were even more powerful in 2024,” Rall adds. “An astonishing 19 million Americans who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 considered the choice between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and picked the couch.”

Locally, the turnout for the April 1 consolidated election is expected to follow the historical pattern.

That’s troubling to the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria, which recently posted, “These elections will determine the future of the City. People elected will make decisions on how our tax money is spent.

“Want to see your City do more of this and less of that? Spend more tax money here and less tax money over there? You have to vote and make your voice heard!”

Union membership, density, and -busters

News usually goes beyond a recitation of statements; merely presenting a company’s or a government’s
framing of some policy or action can be incomplete, misleading or false.

If a house fire occurs, coverage should include a cause, an estimated loss, etc. Was it arson or spontaneous combustion? Limited to smoke damage in the kitchen or a total loss requiring immediate demolition?

A recent example that got some attention but little context was the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual report on union density. Late last month, the BLS reported that the share of America’s workers in unions declined from 10.0% in 2023 to 9.9% in 2024.

First, of course, the number of dues-paying union members isn’t the same as the number of workers a union represents – especially in Right To Work (for less) states and after Supreme Court decisions allowing some public employees to more easily become “free riders,” enjoying the benefits of union representation without sharing the costs of organizing, bargaining and enforcing contracts.

Few stories mentioned the number of union members vs. the number of workers represented – a distinction with a HUGE difference. And far fewer tried to explain how and why the percentage is virtually stagnant.

“If a workplace is unionized, all workers in the bargaining unit get the benefits of being represented by the union, even if they are not union members,” the Economic Policy Institute reminds us. “Thus, the share of workers represented by a union is somewhat higher than the share of workers who are members of a union. Because all workers in a bargaining unit get the benefit of being represented by the union, union representation is the more relevant statistic.”

So, 16.0 million U.S. workers were represented by a union. This was 11.1% – more than one in ten – of all wage and salary workers. That 16.0 million was a drop from 2023, but just 170,000; the 11.1% unionization rate was down, but barely, from 11.2%.

Next, people are right to be curious why, if more than two-third of Americans approve of unions, according to Gallup (which has showed such support grew from 48% in 2010 to 70% in 2024), more unionization hasn’t followed. Popular approval is at its highest level in more than half a century (and much higher than the approval rating for corporations).

And some wonder how, if the surge in approval has translated to active interest – petitions to unionize more than doubled since 2021, and were up 27% just last year, and about 1,800 union elections were held in 2024 – statistics didn’t budge much.

Maybe most startling is poll results showing that 60% of U.S. workers would join a union if they could.

Perhaps not fully appreciated by many regular Americans – but certainly realized by labor and its allies – is that the increasing disparity between the powerful rich and the rest of us for years has been used to prevent reform and attack organized labor. Further, there are few consequences for employers to break the laws that established workers’ rights.

As AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said, “Corporations and billionaires continue to union bust with impunity.”

EPI in a recent report agreed, noting, “The disconnect between the growing interest in unionization and declining unionization rates can be explained by the fact that there are powerful forces blocking the will of workers: aggressive opposition from employers combined with labor law that is so weak that it doesn’t truly protect workers’ right to organize.

The National Labor Relations Act guarantees most private-sector workers the right to join unions and bargain collectively. However, decades of federal policy and court decisions have weakened labor law, and employers often exploit weaknesses in U.S. labor law to mount aggressive opposition to unions. For example, the lack of civil monetary penalties for breaking the law allows employers to violate workers’ rights with little to no repercussions.

“Decades of attacks on unions both on the federal and state levels have made it hard for workers to form and maintain unions,” EPI continued. “Further, weaknesses in federal labor law have made it possible for employers to oppose unions.”

Americans may be at a moment of truth, Shuler added.

“Working people are ready for some long overdue change,” she said. “And more and more people are starting to realize that change starts when we stand together and demand it.”