Are labor unions doomed?

Union members and the Wisconsin state government remain at an standstill as the two sides battle over workers benefits and pay.

(Image credit: Getty)

last updated 8 January 2015

Under attack by Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin, Indiana, and other states, organized labor is in danger of losing influence over everything from wages and benefits to the size of public school classrooms. Public-sector unions managed to hold steady as their counterparts at private companies withered in recent decades. But with states facing a weak economy, high unemployment, and busted budgets, it's "open season" on unions. Could this be the end of unions as we know them? (Watch a Russia Today report about unions' survival)

Yes, unions might be doomed: In this bleak economy, many people resent the stress-free job security and generous pensions unionized government workers enjoy, says Charles Wallace in Daily Finance, all of which is fueling the "anti-union rhetoric." If the union-busting lawmakers in Wisconsin and elsewhere get their way, the entire labor movement faces "potential starvation of funds and a sharp drop in membership."

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These attacks will help unions — and Democrats: Republicans are targeting unions to please their corporate and Tea Party "masters," says Markos Moulitsas in The Hill. It won't work. "These ham-fisted efforts to bust unions have awakened a sleeping giant." The people who depend on unions will swarm to the polls knowing that their livelihoods and benefits are on the line, and that the only way to protect their interests is to vote Democratic.

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