The Decline of Union Membership and the Resulting Conflicts

Cynthia Cushman, Nova Southeastern University

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine how private-sector union members and union leaders viewed the changes in organized labor in the United States over the past ten years. This study explored the impact of union membership decline in the United States labor force through the perceptions of union members and union leaders. There were four macro-level factors examined in this study: a move in dominant occupations from manufacturing to service-orientated work; changes in federal and state regulation; the ability, flexibility, and success of union leadership; and the aggressive counter-union moves of business management. This study was constructed using linear regression and two conceptional frameworks of Marxist Theory and Exit Voice Theory.