Polls show that tens of millions of American workers would like a union to represent them, but in a typical year, only 50,000 to 70,000 win representation through National Labor Relations Board-supervised elections. Even if the employees succeed in making it through what Cornell University researcher Kate Bronfenbrenner calls “the hoops of fire” of a hostile employer campaign, it can take years before a union ever obtains a collective bargaining agreement. Some never do. The reasons for this widespread failure include the absence of damage remedies such as cash penalties against employers who bargain in bad faith and the fact that employers have the legal right to permanently replace striking workers—effectively firing them if they go on strike.

http://www.epi.org/economic_snapshots/entry/snapshot_20090520/#When:11:45:00...