¶ … optimism continued union success. reference class: One of the primary reasons for the relatively current state of optimism about union success is the staying power of unions and their rates of enlistment and membership. In spite of the fact that there are discernible problems regarding today's labor force (most palpably the unstable economy and the widespread layoffs and downsizing responsible for them), there are more employees involved in labor unions than there were in the early 1930's, when unions were fairly prominent in the United States, with well over 15 million people as members (Sloane & Whitney 5).

One of the reasons union membership is so popular today among certain types of workers is the fact that there is an intrinsic power in numbers, particularly when it comes to working with management and traditional bourgeois conceptions of employers. The ability to bargain with such employees as a collective appeals to many laborers who oftentimes depend...

Individually, laborers do not have nearly as much political might and authority to challenge their working conditions as they do when they are united under one organization reflecting a condensed demand of employee needs. Contemporary laborers are well aware of this fact, which attributes to the numbers of people who are part of unions and which is one of the primary reasons why there is continued optimism about the future of unions in the United States.
Another significant factor that attests to a secure future and continued hope for labor unions in the twenty first century is the fact that there is a large variety of laborers who comprise union membership. In addition to government employees at virtually all levels including state, federal and municipal, police officers and administrative officials, there are also private sector and protective service workers. Members of the former include utility…