Biden Confronts Decades of Union Decline in Bid to Boost Pay

President’s economic plan sees unions as a key to compensation
Globalization, technology and legal barriers stand in the way

A union representative outside Amazon’s fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, in March.Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

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By Steve Matthews and Payne Lubbers

April 15, 2021 at 9:00 AM UTC

Updated on

April 15, 2021 at 7:45 PM UTC

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President Joe Biden’s strategy of bolstering labor unions as a way to enhance American workers’ pay is running up against a half century of setbacks for organizing workers.