As part of acquiring his Bachelor of Arts in Construction Management from the National Labor College, Stan Lesniewicz researched and wrote a paper examining factors which contribute to the decline of union membership, ways membership can be grown and examine the public’s view of unions.

Portions of his paper will be published in installments in the Fox Valley Labor News. This is the final installment.

“It was determined, based on the answers presented in the survey, there is a negative perception of unions among the general public. There is a plethora of reasons for this discontent. However, the greatest example shown for this is a resentment of high wages and benefits that accompany union employment, which are believed to be incommensurate with the work produced. The common retort extolled by the survey takers to counter this perception is to publicly promote the good unions do for America, including raising working standards through higher wages and better benefits.

“I discovered people see unions as only being for themselves, and not for helping better the community or giving back to the community. Of the survey takers, most stated they thought the public perceives unions members make too much money, feel jealousy towards unions, and feel unions are ‘bullies.’

“Media/news coverage of unions striking, along with political outlash towards unions, reinforces the public’s negative view towards unions. Unions can reverse this negative view by showing the public that unions care about them as much as they care about its members. When unions give back to the community, it has a long-lasting effect and begins to change the public’s negative view into a positive view towards unions.

“Along with doing good in various communities, union also need to remind the public how unions provide better working conditions. Unions should start with educating its own members about its history and the changes unions have made over the past century. Union members who understand the concepts of what unions have done to progress our country, along with educating the public about the inner workings of a union, can pass this critical information to the public. In turn, this will educate more people on the changes unions have made to this country in regards to government laws, rules and safety in the work place.

“The American has never been really educated on how bad working conditions were in the early 1900’s. While in school, we were briefly taught about these horrific working conditions, but we were never really educated regarding how hard workers and unions fought, or what workers and unions endured in getting better working conditions. I believe that a well-educated union member can pass on this critical information and educate the American people by giving them examples from our history. Once we are able to educate the American people on this, I believe we will see an upward climb in the favor of unions.

“As long as unions have opportunities to make them look better to the American public, I believe they should take no cost at doing anything possible to make changes for better perception of unions. It all starts within local and international unions making changes in becoming favorable with the American people.

“Unions should consider giving surveys to the public to see how they are perceived and what they could do for their community. They can distribute literature to the community, which explains what unions already do and how they already help their communities. With this literature, they can also educate the public about the history of unions and how unions were able to get laws passed that established the working conditions we enjoy today.

“Unions can only blame themselves for the negative perception the public has for them. Unions must start working together and come up with a solution that is going to work to win back the hearts of the public.”

Stan Lesniewicz is a second generation Sheet Metal Worker with Local 73. He has been a proud union member for the last 14 years. Lesniewicz decided to go back to school when the economy went bad, attending the National Labor College from 2010 to 2013 where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Construction Management.