Aggressive Union Campaigns Are Coming: How Employers Should Respond

October 2005
Employment Law Notes
The percentage of American workers that are represented by unions has declined steadily from its peak in the 1940s. At that time, unions represented more than one-third of the eligible American work force. In the following decades, that number plummeted steadily to the point in the 1990s where well less than one-fifth of eligible workers were represented. However, the decline in union membership may reverse due to a recent split in the AFL-CIO that promises aggressive campaigns aimed at unionizing the modern workforce. This Note discusses the split’s effect on union organizing campaigns, steps employers can take to avoid becoming a target of such campaigns, and what employers should do if they are targeted.