Mario Tama/Getty Images Occupy Wall Street protesters joined
with unions in New York on May 1, a traditional day of global
protests in sympathy with unions and leftist politics. Occupy
Wall Street protesters joined with unions in New York on May 1,
a traditional day of global protests in sympathy with unions and
leftist politics. Mario Tama/Getty Images For many full-time
employees in the United States, the five-day work week, paid
overtime and holidays are expected benefits. This wasn't always
so, and many workers' benefits today are the achievements of
labor unions. Just five decades ago, unions were on the
frontline of the fight for the rights and wages of the middle
class. But today, unions are on the decline. After World War II,
organized labor represented a third of America's workforce.
Today, only 12 percent of the overall workforce belongs to labor
unions both public and private. About 37 percent of the public
sector workforce belong to unions as opposed to only 7 percent
in the private sector, but th