The Changing Face Of Organized Labor
In Wisconsin and Ohio, public employee unions are battling Republicans in the legislature and the governor's office.
In Providence, R.I., the city has fired nearly 2,000 union teachers.
Then there's the NFL, where owners and players are at an impasse as the midnight deadline for negotiations nears — meaning even ESPN is on the labor beat.
Each of the conflicts has a different set of issues and different circumstances. But they also highlight how the face of organized labor in the U.S. has changed.
Unions remain a major player in American politics, pouring money and manpower into elections and other public policy debates. But labor's numbers have been shrinking for decades. Now, only about 12 percent of the U.S. workforce belongs to a union. That compares with about 20 percent in the early 1980s.
Labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein at the University of California, Santa Barbara describes what the typical unionized worker in America looked like 50 years ago:
Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134229414/the-changing-face-of-organized-labor?ft=1&f=1003
fox news hamid karzai barak obama hillary clinton george w bush