NEW YORK - Labor unions are something that divide people. On one hand, a majority of Americans give labor unions credit for improving wages and working conditions for workers (65%). However, at the same time, most Americans also are very critical of labor unions which are seen as being to be too involved in politics (72%) and more concerned with fighting changes than trying to bring about change (71%).
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,450 adults surveyed online between August 8 and 15, 2011 by Harris Interactive.
Key findings from the survey include:
Almost two-thirds (65%) of adults agree that unions improve wages and working conditions of workers. A higher 72% of people who live in union households agree with this.
Over seven in ten believe that unions are too involved in politics (72%), are more concerned with fighting change than with trying to bring about change (71%) and stifle individual initiative (63%),
People in union households are somewhat less critical though majorities of union households still feel unions are too involved in politics (60%) and are more concerned about fighting change (63%). Further, a significant number of union families agree that unions stifle individual initiative (46%).
A majority of all adults (59%) disagree that unions work to get legislation that helps all working people, whether they are union members or not. Conversely, union members are more supportive of unions' efforts relating to legislation. Over half (55%) think unions work to get legislation that helps all working people.
By 62% to 38% a majority of Americans disagree that unions give members their money's worth for the dues they pay. Only 47% of union members agree with this sentiment.
So What?
Several months ago during the stand-off in Wisconsin between Governor Scott Walker and the Democratic State Senators over the rights of public employees to engage in collective bargaining, the role of labor unions came under new scrutiny. As a result of Governor Walker's actions, the unions in Wisconsin may have garnered a certain amount of sympathy. However, this new Harris Poll shows that nationally many people are very critical of labor union activities – even among union households they are seen as being too political. Unions do receive some credit for helping to improve conditions for workers but this traditional positive role doesn't offset the negatives. Still unions and their ability to mobilize resources – often for Democratic candidates – will be an important element for President Obama as we approach 2012 election year.
Methodology
This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between August 8 to 15, 2011 among 2,450 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.
All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com
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