Question

Do labor unions have an important economic role in today’s job economy? Explain why or why not in your answer, especially as it relates to a specific group of workers (e.g. by industry, occupation, gender, public sector)?

Answer 1

To millions of American workers, Unions paved the way for the middle class and pioneered services like paid health care and pensions along the way. Also now, on average, union workers receive much more than their non-union counterparts, and union employers are more likely to provide benefits. And, especially in highly unionized industries, non-union workers receive financial benefits from employers who raise wages to match what unions would win to avoid unionization.

Union members in the U.S. benefit much more than non-union workers. Unionized workers ' salaries over the four-year period from 2004 to 2007 were 11.3 percent higher on average than non-union workers with similar characteristics. This means this, in 2008 dollars, all the other equal, American workers joining a union would earn 11.3% more— or $2.26 more per hour — than their nearly equivalent non-union counterparts.

Workers helped the economy develop in this period of time by becoming more competitive, but they only received a small share of the new wealth they helped to create. A period in which unions were stronger American workers generated economic growth by increasing their productivity throughout the middle part of the 20th century, and they were rewarded with higher wages. But this link has broken down between higher productivity and higher wages. Group workers are also much more likely to provide their staff with benefits. Union workers across the country are 28.2 percent more likely to be covered by employer-provided health insurance and 53.9 percent more likely to have employer-provided pensions compared to non-union workers with similar characteristics.

Nearly three out of five survey respondents from a poll by Peter Hart Research Associates say that if they could join a union, but employees seeking to unionize are currently facing a hostile legal environment and are generally threatened by militant anti-union employers. The Employee Free Choice Act would help workers who wish to join a union to do so by ensuring equality in the system of union choice with three key provisions: workers would have a free and easy way to join unions by signing a simple majority; employers who break the rules governing the unionization process would face harsher penalties; and a first contract negotiation and arbitration mechanism