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Study Finds Attacks on Unions Hurt All Workers

April 25, 2011

In their efforts to advance an anti-worker agenda, some politicians and corporate special interest groups are scapegoating labor unions for the bad economy in order to turn nonunion workers against their union brethren.

But a recent report – “Unions Make the Middle Class” – from the Center for American Progress finds that declining union membership has a detrimental effect on all workers, leading to a historic decline in wages and benefits.

Says report authors David Madland, Karla Walters and Nick Bunker:

The percentage of unionized workers tracks very closely with the share of the nation’s income going to the middle class … in America today, states with higher concentrations of union members have a much stronger middle class.

Only 11 percent of workers are union members, down from 33 percent in the 1940s.

Across the globe, the countries with the strongest middle classes all have strong union movements … The 10 states with the lowest percentage of workers in unions all have a relatively weak middle class.

Wages have stagnated in the last 30 years, forcing more and more working Americans to rely on consumer debt just to survive.

The reason the report says: the decline in union membership has created an unbalanced playing field for working families, making it harder to push for better pay and benefits.

The report finds that union membership is associated with a 15 percent increase in hourly wages.

And the decline in union strength makes it harder for workers to fight for good jobs.

In examining the reasons why the jobs slump hit the United States harder than nearly anywhere else in the world, New York Times business reporterDavid Leonhardt writes:

One obvious possibility is the balance of power between employers and employees. Relative to the situation in most other countries – or in this country for most of the last century – American employers operate with few restraints … Many companies can now come much closer to setting the terms of their relationship with employees, letting them go when they become a drag on profits and relying on remaining workers or temporary ones when business picks up.

Click here to read the report.

And click here to see how unions affect wages in your state.