IT has been an axiom of private-sector management in our country that top management knows what is best for its employees, and is attentive to their wishes. This "truism" is particularly used when employees are restive, or are considering becoming members of a union.

While this message has not been as successful in blue-collar union campaigns, it has had greater success with administrative, professional and technical staff.

I would argue, based on the behavior of corporate America during the past 25 years, that employees, and even managers, have not been a priority when it comes to various stakeholder groups.

Top corporate executives respond to pressure, and employees, compared with the investment community, have not fared well for attention.

The reality is that corporate, as well as entrepreneurial, management strongly believes in the right of private property — even if they are managers rather than owners. Few of them want to share or lose any power and control to union or employee association officials.

Based on the past quarter-century events, would any employee or manager want to repeat the wide swath of corporate layoffs; the job insecurity for the survivors; modest real growth in wages and salaries; tanking of their investments in 1999-2003; unilateral changes in pensions from defined benefit to defined contribution; excessive work hours expected (e.g., national legal and accounting firms); increasing level of co-payments of health plans by employees; unwillingness of some firms to even provide their staff with employee-paid health coverage; and the lack of character and integrity by a goodly number of CEOs?

The percentage of union members today is 8.5 percent of the private-sector labor force, and still falling. The AFL-CIO has almost consistently had to fight defensively against attacks by powerful business interests like the Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Chamber of Commerce.

In our own state, the Washington Association of Business has far more clout with the Legislature than the labor unions have. The state home-builder association reportedly is eyeing a "right-to-work" initiative that would make it even more difficult for the labor movement to add membership, or even hold its present members.

In the 1970s, Washington state was second in the nation in terms of percentage of union members to the total nonagricultural labor force, at 40 percent. Today it is closer to 20-25 percent.

If there is any doubt that private-sector, as well as public-sector, employees want a "voice" in their workplace, a February opinion survey by Peter D. Hart and Associates found that 57 million non-union workers in the U.S. want a union at their place of work. The 57 million workers represent 53 percent of the non-union workforce. What is particularly telling here is that these figures are much higher than previous opinion surveys dating back to the late 1970s — those reported approximately one-third of American non-union workers would vote in favor of a union if given an option.

Perceived or real management opposition plays a large part in the reluctance of employees to organ-ize into unions or employee associations. It is clear that without collective representation, most employees have had little or no voice over the past 25 years. You have to be at the table to be heard and have influence.

As the union voice has become weaker, this democracy of ours has become more fragile. Employees who believe that they don't need a collective voice are just wrong, based on the record. Democracies suffer when there is an absence of countervailing power in the society. That is where we are now. This is compounded by the power of business to get much of what it wants both in state legislatures and the U.S. Congress, whether the member is a Republican or a Democrat.

We really need a national debate regarding what our nation wants, and needs, in the early 21st century. Otherwise, we will be seen as hypocrites by pushing democracy in other nations, while weakening it here.

Richard Peterson is an emeritus business professor at the University of Washington, specializing in labor relations and human-resources management.