Union membership has declined sharply over the last six decades, from nearly 35 percent of the workforce in the 1950s to just 11.3 percent in 2014. To reverse this trend, the nation’s largest union — the Service Employees International Union — has come up with an audacious new strategy, one that may provide a big payoff, but which also carries great financial risk. Unfortunately for the SEIU’s dues-paying members, that risk is compounding while success remains elusive.

The SEIU’s strategy focuses on the fast food industry, a huge pool of non-unionized service workers. It’s a potentially lucrative target, worth hundreds of millions annually in dues revenue, but one that traditionally has been out of reach due to unique factors in the industry.