The False Promise of Unionization to Next‐Generation Managers

Abstract

Baby boomer and Gen X managers, by and large, need no introduction to the risks of unionization. Such executives and supervisors, having entered the management ranks in the twentieth century, had knowledge or directly heard stories of the pitfalls and risks associated with running a business in a unionized work environment. However, as private‐sector unionization and union power waned at the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty‐first, what perspective has the next generation of managers adopted? Where do managers in the millennial and even Gen Z age groups gain knowledge of unions, apart from more experienced colleagues and (of course) Management Report? Amid the Information Age, the obvious answer is the internet.