Labor unions today have unknowingly fulfilled a self-fulfilling prophesy. By leveraging unfair practices upon workers to build union 
membership, they did such a good job that they have lost their only reason to recruit. Now they are left with ancient history, the mid twentieth century, to fall back on. And for the most part, no longer have a reason to exist.
BIG LABOR advocates say “Without America’s labor unions, we wouldn’t have many of the protections and benefits that we have today.” That’s a true statement. It was true 30 years ago too! Thanks to the ‘wake-up call’ delivered to employers by organized labor decades ago, which was “treat your people right or lose,” the labor movement has successfully put itself out of business so to speak. Their usefulness has diminished due to their earlier success as shown by their decreasing member rolls.
- Total percentage private sector and public sector labor union workers: 2002 13.3%, 2012 11.3%
- Percent of private sector labor union workers: 2002 8.6%, 2012 6.6%
- Percent of public sector, government, labor union workers: 2002 37.3%, 2012 35.9%
- Total number of union workers, public and private sector: 2002 16,145,000, 2012 14,366,000