Final answer:
The main difference between craft and industrial unions lies in their scope of labor agreements, job focus, and leadership, with attendance at meetings not being a differentiating factor. Craft unions target specific trades, while industrial unions cover all workers in an industry.
Step-by-step explanation:
The differences between craft unions and industrial unions are numerous, including their approach to the labor agreement's scope, job characteristics, and leadership roles. Attendance at and participation in meetings is not typically one of these distinguishing factors. Craft unions usually represent workers in specific trades and skills, focusing on specific job characteristics and negotiating labor agreements for those trades. On the other hand, industrial unions represent all workers within a particular industry, regardless of their specific job within that industry, hence having a broader scope of labor agreements.
This distinction reflects different organizational structures and strategies in pursuit of goals like improving working conditions, wages, and benefits for their members through collective bargaining and, if necessary, strikes.
Union membership trends have shown a decline in the United States compared to other high-income economies due to various factors including the shift from manufacturing to a service-based economy, U.S. legal environment challenges, and cultural differences towards union acceptance.