30 Issues Discussion: Should Organizing Be a Civil Right?

Union membership has declined steadily from its peak in the mid-1950s — when 30 percent of private sector workers were unionized — to just under seven percent of private sector workers as of 2011. Unions, once a powerful and compelling political force, have largely become associated with special interest lobbying. Its a shift that has been attributed to a number of factors, including the loss of blue collar manufacturing jobs combined with the perceived triumphs of the labor rights movement in the form of wage laws and safety regulations.

For today's 30 Issues in 30 Days discussion, Boston Public Radio host Callie Crossley talks with Richard Kahlenberg, whose new book argues that the failures of existing labor laws to protect potential organizers are partially responsible for unions' decline in popularity and suggests a bold solution based on the labor's shared history with the vastly more successful civil rights movement.

GUEST:

• Richard Kahlenberg, senior fellow at the Century Foundation and co-author of "Why Organizing Should Be a Civil Right"