One of the most significant economic forces to emerge from the Great Depression was a combination of pro-labor union sentiment and enabling government policy that gave collective bargaining a central role in determining how American workers would share in the growing wealth of the U.S. economy. By the mid-20th century, about one in three American workers was a union member, and many more felt the effects of ascendant unionism as collective bargaining established patterns for wages and benefits that spilled over into non-union workplaces.

Sean Flaherty is a professor of economics at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. (sean.flaherty@fandm.edu).

For the next quarter-century, real wages kept pace with productivity growth and economic inequality tracked downward. Formerly low-wage workers joined the middle class, and even the working poor could expect to see improving wages and benefits from one year to the next.

Today, however, the union movement has fallen on hard times; the fraction of workers who are organized has fallen to about one in eight -- one in 13 when we look only at the private sector. And inequality has been increasing for several decades now. America's rich have been getting richer while the middle class and the poor have seen flat or even falling real wages.

A resurgence of union representation could reverse the tide of growing inequality, both by boosting the earnings of workers in the lower half of the American wage scale, as unions most effectively do, and by reining in executive pay, since businesses would then need to weigh the impact on rank-and-file bargaining when setting compensation packages for corporate higher-ups.

Congress is waking up to the problem of growing inequality and the role unions play in building and sustaining a middle class. In March the U.S. House passed the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers who want union representation actually to get it. But do American workers really want unions? The answer may come as a surprise to those who think unions are relics of a bygone era.

Ten years ago a Hart Research Associates poll found that only 39 percent of nonunion workers would vote for a union if given the chance. But in 2005, a poll revealed that 53 percent would do so, with the biggest up-tick having come after 2001, a period of swelling corporate profits, slashed health benefits and wage increases that barely kept pace with inflation.

Does current government policy let workers act on this wish? Only on paper. The New Deal-era Wagner Act enshrined the right of a workplace majority to choose union representation, but studies have shown time and again that this fundamental right has been whittled away by unsympathetic courts, union-busting lawyers and intransigent employers who find the minimal penalties for breaking the law to be a worthwhile investment in keeping their companies "union free."

Recognizing that current law has become increasingly ineffective at protecting workers' rights, a bipartisan House majority endorsed the Employee Free Choice Act, which could become a historic piece of labor legislation if the Senate follows suit. The act would restore the promise of Sen. Wagner's National Labor Relations Act by effectively holding in check the employer's inherent power to coerce while workers consider whether they want union representation.

The new act would stiffen penalties for illegal acts, like firing pro-union workers, while streamlining the process for selecting a collective-bargaining representative. A union could be certified once a majority of workers signed cards that confirmed they wanted representation. The act also would provide for binding arbitration in cases where bad-faith bargaining precludes a first contract.

Opponents claim that enactment would eliminate secret-ballot elections, the process by which most new collective-bargaining agents are certified today. But the problem with these elections is that they typically feature a managerial campaign of intimidation and coercion delivered in captive-audience meetings.

Besides, the secret-ballot complaint is a smoke screen. The proposed legislation provides for a secret-ballot election if as few as 30 percent of the workers in a prospective bargaining unit ask for one.

Eleven of the 12 senators from Pennsylvania's surrounding states have committed to support the Employee Free Choice Act. But in the Keystone State, only Sen. Bob Casey has signed on.

Sen. Arlen Specter, a key undecided vote, has shown the courage to stand up to his party's leadership on other important matters. He now has the opportunity to stand up for the right of all Americans to make an uncoerced choice in how we manage our working lives and to help enact a public policy that once again turns U.S. economic growth into a tide of prosperity that lifts all boats.

Sen. Specter ... ?