While it used to be fairly common for employees in the United States to be unionized, unionization today has dropped to less than 12 percent. That may be because Americans have seen so many companies struggle or even collapse in part because of lavish, unsustainable union contracts.
Many companies were unionized decades ago, and the Center for Union Facts notes data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Labor Relations Board showing that less than 10 percent of workers who are unionized today actually voted to be in their union.
It is not certain, therefore, that employees in a given unionized workplace want to be union members.
So 21 U.S. senators are supporting a bill, the Employee Rights Act, that would sensibly provide for secret-ballot votes every three years to determine whether unionized employees wish to continue to be represented by a union. The measure has the backing, in our region, of U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.
Employees should have the right to join or not to join labor unions -- without coercion from either management or Big Labor. This bill would promote that right.