Social workers have a long and storied history of challenging social injustice since the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in America. Social workers successfully worked alongside labor organizers on behalf of working poor people during the late 19th Century and the first half of the 20th Century. These efforts increased workers' rights and narrowed the gap between rich and poor. After the Civil Rights movement, social workers distanced themselves from labor organizers resistant to racial integration and began to focus their efforts on micro practice and professional licensure, as well as on safety net programs. The reasons for this historical departure are unclear, and scant scholarly literature addresses this phenomenon. This qualitative study analyzes social workers' attitudes, experiences, and perceptions of unionization, and the findings suggest that social work may have sacrificed its collective power as the profession became more specialized and fragmented.