Collective bargaining in U.S. private-sector industries is under siege. The unrelenting intrusion of global markets into corporate boardrooms and the general antipathy toward unions by managers have contributed to a substantial decline in union density since the 1950s. The inability of unions to organize new private-sector members, the rigid postwar legal framework regulating private-sector collective bargaining, and the passage of free trade agreements now threaten to make collective bargaining an anachronism. More importantly, because it has not been able to adjust to the new realities facing private-sector business, observers are beginning to ask whether the American system of collective bargaining is suited to satisfying the needs of workers and employers today.
