Employees at 2nd Utah Starbucks announce plans to unionize

"Originally, unions were seen as a criminal conspiracy and it was illegal to join a union," said Peter Philips, a labor economist professor at the University of Utah.

Times began to change during the Great Depression, as unemployment rose to 25%.

"That led to considerable labor unrest because employers at that time, because they felt they were under pressure from falling prices, cut wages, and when they cut wages that meant that for the 3 out of the 4 workers who still had a job, their jobs were paying them less and less as a consequence," said Philips.

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