Struggling Unions Shop at Big Retail Stores for New Members

As manufacturing and other blue-collar jobs have continued to wane in recent years, so have the number of workers represented by labor unions. To reverse the drop in their rolls, labor leaders have focused their efforts at organizing workers not traditionally represented by unions, such as home health aides, janitors and retail clerks.

Of that last group, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has long been the target of union organizers, who have accused the world's largest retail chain of a number of abuses, including violations of labor laws, inadequate wages and scant benefits.