Unions get creative to halt decline in membership

WASHINGTON (AP) — With union membership on the decline, labor leaders are getting more creative — and some say more desperate — to boost sagging numbers and rebuild their waning clout.

Unions are helping non-union fast-food workers around the country hold strikes to protest low wages and poor working conditions. They are trying to organize home day-care workers, university graduate students and even newly legalized marijuana dealers. Members of a “shadow union” at Wal-Mart hold regular protests at the giant retailer, which long has been resistant to organizing.