This is a HeadGum Podcast. I don't know what to think

I don't know what to say

and the dance of my

yeah it's okay

I don't know.

I don't know.

Hello, welcome to factually. I'm Adam Conover,

and the fabric of our society sometimes changes in ways that we don't really

notice until long after the changes occurred. Let me give you an example. Earlier

this year I was going through some of my grandfather's old things. He passed away in 1981 before I was born.

And going through a box, I came across a booklet from the funeral home that did his funeral.

And in it was a little form for his personal information.

It had a space for his name, his address, the church he was affiliated with, and then there

was a space I didn't expect.

It asked for his union membership.

The assumption made by the people who designed this form

was that unions were such a fundamental part of American life

that my grandfather would want to take his union affiliation with him to the grave.

And this actually made a lot of sense at the time.

In the early 80s, one in five American workers were in a union, and if you go back to 1955 when my grandfather was just

starting his family in his working life, that number was over one in three.

But jump to today and the numbers are paltry.

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