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While working men and women throughout the country struggled to join unions last year, Illinois posted its third consecutive increase in membership according to a report released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Union membership in Illinois rose again this year from 965,000 in 2005 to 979,000 in 2006.
More than half of all workers – 58 million – say they would join a union right now if they could. Unfortunately, too few are getting that chance.
Recent research from Peter D. Hart Research Associates shows that the public support of unions is at an historic 25-year high - - 65 percent approve of unions as opposed to only 25 percent who disapprove. America’s working people are struggling to make ends meet these days and our middle class is disappearing. The best opportunity working people have to get ahead economically is by uniting to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits. But the current system for forming unions and bargaining is broken. Every day, corporations deny workers the freedom to decide for themselves whether to form unions to bargain for a better life. They routinely intimidate, harass, coerce and even fire workers who try to form unions and bargain for economic well-being. The Employee Free Choice Act, supported by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, would level the playing field for workers and employers and help rebuild America’s middle class. It would restore workers’ freedom to choose a union by: |
