Kansas: Labor unions on the decline
According to the Wichita Eagle:
This Labor Day, union workers in Wichita are flexing their muscles.
Advised to strike by their leaders, about 700 Boeing Machinists will vote on a new contract Wednesday.
Hawker Beechcraft Machinists just ended a 25-day strike by ratifying a new contract.
Yet labor unions have suffered a long, slow decline in membership both nationally and in Kansas.
In the 1950s, 35 percent of the American work force was unionized. Today, it's about 12 percent.
In Kansas, union members make up just 7 percent of the work force. There isn't much union membership outside of Wichita, Topeka and Kansas City.
Some wonder whether unions are relevant in a fast-moving global economy dominated by multinational corporations that can ship jobs to low-cost locations on a moment's notice...click to continue.
