gy of trying to protect current contracts of members instead of organizing new members.” (AFL-CIO 2001)Public opinion and its shift away from the unions have been attributed, by some, to the decline in membership. According to the Gallup organization, approval for organized labor has never fallen below 55% (which happened in 1979 and 1981) and had actually risen to 65% by 1999. Gallup also placed organized labor alongside big business and big government and asked people which one was the biggest threat to the country. In 1965 organized labor was a close second to big government. Labor received 29% to big governments 35%. Organized labor as a threat steadily declined and by 1999 only 8% of the people viewed it as the biggest threat behind big business at 24% and big government at 65%. (Cornfield 1999) The declining view of big labor as a threat could explain the rising approval ratings. Those who think that the unions have fallen far enough that they are no longer a threat could offer an approval even though they may personally disapprove of them. It is analogous to attitude towards small communist countries such as Korea and Cuba. While many do not approve of the way in which the countries operate, they no longer view them as a viable threat to the democratic nations.While the public opinion towards unions has softened in the recent years, unions still face a monumental task in trying to regain, or even maintain membership levels. In order to maintain their current proportion of the workforce, unions must organize 300,000 workers a year. In order to even begin to approach the previous levels of membership, unions would have to organize at least a million new workers a year. (Clawson 1999) The question is whether or not the unions, in their current form, will be able to make such a drastic resurgence, or will the image and basic structures of the unions need to be overhauled to meet the needs of the current workers? Before examinin...
