in "free fall since the early 1980s. In 1955, the year of the merger of the AFL and the CIO, it was more than 30 percent. By 1980 it had fallen to 23 percent, and today it is a mere 14.9 percent" (Gapasin, Yates, 1997, 48).
Density in the private sector of the economy is now a paltry 10.3 percent, approximately what it was in 1930. Gaspin and Yates find that "the only thing that has saved labor from a complete rout has been the robust growth of unionization in the public sector. Union density in the public sector is 37.7 percent, and this density actually increased slightly during the 1980s" (Gapasin, Yates, 1997, July 7, 49). However, since the 1980s, labor union density in the private sector has been almost cut in half.
Whether labor unions' strength and density will ever rise again and become a potent force is an interesting speculation many scholars have addressed and is not within the scope of this discussion. Whatever the future holds for labor unions, American administration theory and practice of today is indebted to the past activities of organized labor, for through its acts, some very important and still relevant laws were passed.
Section 2: Major Laws Impacting Current Administration Theory
Any discussion of critical laws of the 20th Century affecting labor and management administration must start with the signing of Executive Order No. 6763, dated June 29, 1934 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt which revamped and replaced other government organizations with the National Labor Review Board.
Included in the text of that act are the President's comments that clearly state the focus of the Act:
This Executive Order, I believe, marks a great step forward in administrative efficiency and, more important, in governmental policy in labor matters. It meets the universal demand not only of employers and employees, but of the public, that the machinery for adjusting labor relations should be clari...