Union popularity has a roller-coaster history in the United States, and corporations put together a 50+ year campaign to instill a sense of hesitation when it came to unions mainly through a channel of higher product prices. The tide is showing signs of turning on that front. In the last year, many retail and service industry employees have made efforts to unionize such as Amazon, John Deere, REI, Starbucks, and even tech employees at the New York Times. However, a new survey shows that not only are Americans overwhelmingly in support of service industry unionization (71%), but they are even less likely to support companies that won’t allow their employees to unionize (42%). Finally even having unionized labor can be an advantage because 29% were likely to support a brand because of a unionized workforce. Experts trace this flip in sentiment back to the 2016 Occupy Wall Street movement which highlighted working conditions, wealth, and income inequality.
