After decades of decline, unions may be making a comeback
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — After a decline in union membership in recent decades, there seems to be a bit of a comeback for labor unions.
As KDKA money editor Jon Delano reports, it may be a consequence of both the pandemic and inflation.
With the largest Labor Day parade in America, Pittsburgh has always been known as a union city with strong unions in steel, coal, and rail, the growth of the building trades, and then the public, social, and human services unions.
"You can't tell the story about organized labor or union organization without bringing the Steel City into the conversation," says Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny-Fayette Central Labor Council.
But the decades-long decline in union membership – from one-third of American workers in the 1950s to about 10 percent today – may finally be reversing.
"There is a discernible trend in more active union organizing over the last couple of years focused on certain sectors, including health care, retail, certainly manufacturing continues to be a lot of union organizing activity," says Pittsburgh attorney Jenn Betts.
Betts advises employers opposed to unionization, and she agrees with Kelly on more efforts to unionize.
Delano: "Is there a resurgence of union organization in western Pennsylvania?"
Kelly: "Absolutely. You can see it clearly in one of the biggest union drives anywhere in the country over the decade was here in Pittsburgh with the University of Pittsburgh staff."
Economists like Duquesne University professor Risa Kumazawa link recent unionization efforts to inflation and the pandemic.
"Unions strive not just for better pay and benefits but for better working conditions as well. So it's not a coincidence that the pandemic got people thinking about needing to work in better conditions," says Kumazawa.
A recent Gallup poll found a record 71 percent of Americans now approve of labor unions, up seven points since before the pandemic. And a Pew Research study found 61 percent believe the decline in unions is bad for American workers.
