The former director of the University of Iowa’s Labor Center says public opinion about unions is changing. Jennifer Sherer, who’s now a deputy director at the Economic Policy Institute, cites a recent Gallup Poll which found the approval rate for organized labor at 71 percent.
Gallup has been conducting polls on the topic for 90 years. Gallup’s latest poll, conducted last month, found an all-time high of 47 percent of those surveyed want unions to have a greater influence in the workplace. About 100-thousand Iowans are union members. That’s six-point-eight percent of Iowa’s labor force.
For those seeking a fuller picture of the labor movement’s history in Iowa, Sherer (SHEER-er) has a Labor Day book recommendation.
Sherer made her comments this past weekend during an appearance on the “Iowa Press” program on Iowa P-B-S.
