ABSTRACT
The 1980s was not a good decade for organized labor. Although Ronald Reagan was the first former labor union head to serve as president, he dismantled the Air Traffic Controllers Union in his first term. An overwhelming majority of unions endorsed Walter Mondale in the Democratic primaries in 1984, but nearly one-third of union members voted for Reagan in the general election. Union membership declined throughout the decade. Corporations increasingly fired striking workers and replaced them with nonunion labor. When collective bargaining did take place, it frequently resulted in a “give-back” of benefits or salary. Corporate PACs increased in number throughout the eighties. It was clearly a better decade for the business community than for organized labor.
