"Economic View: Unions Pay Dearly for Success"
by Eduardo Porter

Source: New York Times, January 29, 2006
http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F4061FFB3A5B0C7A8EDDA80894DE404482

             Unions represent a much smaller percentage of private-sector workers than they did during the prosperous period from the 1950s to the early 1970s. What happened? According this article by Eduardo Porter, unions, just like many businesses in the U.S., have been affected by global competition.

             We have learned that businesses in product markets with less competition, especially monopolies and oligopolies, have more market power. They are price-makers, not price-takers. Because of their market power, oligopolistic firms such as U.S. automakers could afford relatively high wages for their workers. But as U.S. manufacturing has faced greater global competition, they have become more hard-line toward unions. Unions have remained strong in the public sector where there is no competition in the product market.

             The article suggests that the next wave of union organizing needs to pick targets carefully. Which industries and companies does the author suggest might make good organizing targets?

• Do you or anyone in your family belong to a union? Which union? What industry?
• How do your classes answers compare with the percentages for the nation as a whole? Do they reflect your regional economy?
• Do you think still unions serve an important function in the U.S. economy? Why or why not?