nnell, 1989). By the mid 1980s, however, union membership had declined to 17 million workers, or about 15 percent of the civilian labor force (Doyle, 1985).
Organized labor has always been strongest in the industrial sector. The decline in the so called smokestack industries has been a major factor in the decline in organized labor. The shift in economic activity to the so called sunbelt states, which have traditionally been less hospitable to unions, is another important factor. Collective bargaining by labor unions is concerned with factors other than wages. It is also concerned with issues of union security, and working conditions. Through the collective bargaining process, labor unions have played major roles in the United States in the pursuit of economically related social goals, such as (1) the elimination of racial discrimination in employment hiring, firing, and promotion, and (2) pay equity between the sexes and between ethnic and racial groups. To be sure, some unions have themselves been guilty, at times, of similar discriminatory practices. The organized labor movement as a whole, however, has actively promoted such social goals.
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