Seven in 10 Americans said they support unions and worker interest in joining them is at historic highs but just one in 10 are currently members.

Most of the 50 million people in Wyoming and across the nation who said they want a union contract cannot get one due to federal and state labor laws, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute.

Heidi Shierholz, president of the institute and the report's co-author, said tripling the number of union members would bring widespread benefits, including boosting public schools, expanding access to healthcare, and increasing wages to help families pay for the rising cost of just about everything.

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"Almost every conversation about affordability focuses entirely on prices, as if the only way to make life more affordable is to make things cheaper. But affordability depends on both prices and pay," Shierholz pointed out.

For decades, corporations have warned Americans about the potential costs of joining a union, including dues workers have to pay and the risk of losing jobs if companies cannot stay competitive.

Amazon, Starbucks and others invest millions in union avoidance strategies and make the case to workers companies are best positioned to take care of workers. Corporations have also successfully lobbied Congress and state legislatures to pass laws making it much harder to form or join a union. The report calls for reforming such laws.

Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, who represents some 15 million workers, said tripling union membership is not a pipe dream. More than one in three private-sector workers belonged to a union in the 1950s.

"Back in the 1950s when, frankly, our wages were actually growing along with the economy and when economic growth meant that all of us won, not just the billionaires," Shuler contended.

Shierholz noted if wages had kept up with productivity gains since the 1950s, average worker paychecks would be 40% bigger than they are today. Shierholz argued making it possible for more workers to join a union could help address some of today’s biggest challenges.

"Rebuilding union density would raise wages, shrink racial wage gaps, expand health coverage, strengthen communities and protect our democracy all at the same time," Shierholz asserted. "There is no other policy lever that does all of that."