Workers trying to mobilize at Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse and elsewhere are in good firm. That’s in response to a brand new Morning Consult/Politico poll which discovered 77% of registered voters mentioned they help worker rights to collective bargaining. That help, not like nearly all the pieces else these days, transcended political affiliation. 89% of Democrats and 59% of Republicans mentioned they supported collective bargaining for office circumstances together with pay, well being care, and day off.

That help dipped again down although when voters have been requested their opinions of unions particularly. There, simply 54% of Democrats and 37% of Republicans expressed help. Those findings run barely towards a separate Gallup Poll released final September which discovered public perceptions of unionization within the US had reached their highest factors since 1965, with 90% of Democrats and 47% of Republicans polled saying they permitted of unions.

Americans’ evolving emotions on collective bargaining and unionization are occurring simply as Amazon, one of many nation’s largest employers, faces historic employee mobilization. Last week, employees at a second warehouse in Staten Island filed a petition asking to be represented by the Amazon Labor Union. Meanwhile, employees on the ​​Bessemer, Alabama Amazon web site are set to vote on unionization for a second time following a failed 2021 try.

Still, regardless of some clear indicators of public help and vital positive factors in several sectors, labor union membership as a complete within the U.S. declined final yr. According to data launched by the ​​Bureau of Labor Statistics final month, the variety of wage and wage employees in a union dipped by 241,000 folks in 2021. Around 10.3% of employees have been enrolled in a union in 2021, in response to the information, down from 10.8% the yr earlier than. At the identical time although, the nation noticed a surge in union exercise on the finish of the yr. Between August and October, no less than 40 workplaces had gone on strike within the U.S. according to Bloomberg Law, practically double the quantity throughout the identical time in 2020.

One space the place unions aren’t in decline is tech. The trade as a complete noticed file numbers of recent unions fashioned final yr, according to just lately launched knowledge from the group Collective Action in Tech. Across the trade, 12 new unions emerged together with 69 reported cases of collective motion. The yr started with the high-profile formation of the Alphabet Workers Union, followed by tech employees at The New York Times, Code for America, and 10 others. Outside of unions, the trade additionally noticed main cases of office activism, most notably by employees at traditionally tight-lipped Apple, who spoke out towards alleged circumstances of discrimination below the #AppleToo banner. That motion seems to have saved up its momentum in 2021, with employees at Activision Blizzard-owned Raven software program announcing their very own union formation final month.

Of course, public opinion—each in tech and extra broadly—solely accounts for a lot. Workers nonetheless need to face pushback from employers, one thing notably true at union-busting veteran Amazon. The firm, which has beforehand created warmth maps measuring the chance of Whole Foods shops to unionize and even went so far as to hire the precise Pinkerton’s to spy on warehouse employees, hasn’t shied away from its hatred of unions. More just lately within the Staten Island case, Amazon has been accused by the National Labor Relations Board of surveilling employees.

Public polling and voter sentiment are all nicely and good, however they aren’t good predictors of whether or not or not any given coverage or initiative will really materialize. By this time subsequent yr, nonetheless, a number of main votes can have occurred portray a clearer image of the particular, actual well being of employees and unions within the U.S.