The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor Highlight

In 1981, according to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, 38.3 percent of West Virginia workers were union members, well above the 21 percent national average. Right at that time, as Reaganism took hold, the state’s average wage fell below the national average and has never recovered. By 2021, union density in the state had fallen to 9.6 percent, slightly below the national average.