Will Supreme Court case lead to a post-union America?

Robert Esparza has had a front-row seat to the decline of unions in Texas. When he joined the Local 66 ironworkers chapter here out of high school, there were roughly 1,200 other members who would get close to 90 percent of the work in the region. Forty-one years later the union only has 350 members, who get about 10 percent of the work – non-union workers, many working for a fraction of what unionized ironworkers get, are taking the rest.

“We’re kind of like a secret, really, nobody knows too much about us,” says Mr. Esparza, who is now the business manager and financial secretary-treasurer for Local 66. “We do go out there and market ourselves, but it’s tough because the thing is there are guys out there doing our type of work for half price.”

Unions across the country have been steadily shrinking for decades – 10.7 percent of the US workforce were union

The $45-per-month at the heart of the caseRoberts court's expanded view of free speech