Will Labor Unions Survive?

21:40

February 27, 2013

Alba Lopez, left, and Fabia Suarez, center, both of Boston, react to a speaker during a rally in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. The rally, held in advance of a possible strike, was organized by the Service Employees International Union that represents 14,000 New England janitors. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

The country's union movement is in crisis. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last month that union membership fell in 2012 to its lowest level since 1916. And last year Michigan became the 24th Right-To-Work state in the country, making it tougher for the movement to organize and maintain power because employees covered by union contracts will no longer be required to pay dues.

So is this the end of the union movement as we know it?

Guests

Professor Thomas Kochan, Co-Director of the Institute of Work and Employment Research at MIT's Sloan School of Management.

Brian Lang, President of Unite Here!, the hospitality workers union.

This segment aired on February 27, 2013.