Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen: As business scandals proliferate, Americans are increasingly skeptical about corporations and more open than ever about joining unions. Those are the findings of a new survey by Peter D. Hart Research Associates conducted for the AFL-CIO.
A solid 39 percent of those surveyed express negative views of large corporations, up from 25 percent last year. That’s the highest negative rating for corporations in the nine years pollsters have asked the public about their views. A whopping 58 percent have a negative view of CEOs.
“People are angry that they’re losing their savings to a corrupt corporate system they thought they could trust,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “That’s why more Americans than ever say they would join a union tomorrow to improve their lives if given the chance.”
In fact, for the first time since 1984, fully half of workers who don’t already have a union say they would join a union tomorrow if given the chance. That’s up from 42 percent just last year.
Growing public distrust of corporations is likely to be a factor in November’s elections, according to the survey. By almost two to one, people say that the government is too concerned with what big corporations and wealthy special interests want. Voters are very interested in legislative initiatives to hold corporations accountable, such as protecting workers’ pay and retirement in employer bankruptcy, and giving workers the same choices and protections in retirement plans that top executives enjoy. The survey also shows that support for privatization of Social Security is a political negative this year, costing a candidate more votes than it garners.
The survey was released Aug. 29, as working families prepare to celebrate Labor Day by honoring America’s everyday working heroes. The telephone survey was conducted Aug. 10-12 among a representative sample of 800 adults, plus an over-sample of 100 non-managerial workers. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percent for results among all adults, and plus or minus 4.7 percent for results among workers.
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