Heller’s mantra

U.S. Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada has been using a mantra of “big government, big business, and big unions” to encapsulate his something-for-everyone philosophy, but the numbers do not show the equivalence he suggests. Labor is not in the same power league with government and business.

Figures last year showed there are just 14.7 million union members in the United States. That was only 11.7 percent of the workforce, a 70-year low. In 2009 it was 12.3 percent. In 1983 it was 20.1 percent.