Gen Z may bring back union support

The youngest members of the workforce may have a major role to play in increasing union support and activism, Fortune reported Dec. 14. 

Currently, only 4.4 percent of Generation Z, those born in 1997 or later, are union members. However, the group as a whole are overwhelmingly in support of unions, with a Gallup poll showing that 77 percent of adults aged 18 to 34 support labor unions. 

Since the 2008 financial crash, union support has been ticking up, and younger workers have been a big part of that, said Stephanie Luce, PhD, professor at CUNY School of Labor and Urban studies. 

"Growing distrust of corporations [among young workers] has left unions as perhaps the antidote," she told Fortune.

Witnessing the effect of the financial crisis on their parents, the threat of climate change and the post-9/11 "war on terror" may well have shaped this generation's attitude to work. Dr. Luce also thinks that union support among the generation is intertwined with other forms of activism.

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