What do unions really do? A review article

“All told, if our research findings are correct, the ongoing decline in private sector unionism ... deserves serious public attention as being socially undesirable. We believe that the time has come for the nation to reassess its implicit and explicit policies toward unionism, such as it has done several times in the past. And we hope that such a reassessment would lead to a new public posture toward the key worker institution under capitalism — a posture based on what unions actually do in society and on what, under the best circumstances, they can do to improve the well-being of the free enterprise system, and of us all” (Freeman and Medoff, 1984, p. 251). Helpful comments on an earlier draft were received from Barry Hirsch, Stanley Siebert, Leo Troy, Richard Perlman, and Joe Reid.