Why unions?

Higher Wages for Union Members

The difference can be startling. The average union worker made 34 percent more in wages than did the average non-union worker in 1997.

In the service industry, where non-union workers made $283 a week on average, union workers earned an average weekly salary of nearly $400. For machine operators there was a 50 percent difference in wages between union and non-union workers. Across the board union workers out pace non-union workers by sizable margins.

Unions Raise Wages for Women and Minorities

For women and minority workers the difference is especially important. Union membership helps narrow the income gap routinely suffered by minorities and women. Union women earn 38 percent more than non-union women, African-American union members earn 42 percent more than those without unions and Latino union members earn 52 percent more than their non-union counterparts. There is no better way to bring greater equality in employment conditions than to have union representation.

Part-Time Jobs, Full Time Representation

Another segment of the working population that benefits from unionization is the rapidly growing part-time workforce. Part-timers need the security and respect accorded to union members. Management often treats part-time workers as disposable and non-essential. Why give someone a promotion or a raise if you can just fire them, or even better, prod them into quitting, after half a year? The union assures part-timers that they will have a voice against any unfairness in the workplace.

Union Workers Have Better Benefits

A 1995 U.S. Department of Labor report shows that 85 percent of unionized workers are provided with health care, while only 74 percent of non-union workers. Union workers were also more likely to have pension plans and much more likely (73 to 47 percent) short-term disability benefits. It’s not just the salary that counts, and unions make sure that their members are protected.

Right to Work...For Less

So called right to work states, where laws drafted by big business friendly politicians have weakened union strength, are home to a workforce that receives, on average, 18 percent lower pay. In these states, mostly in the south, the union density, or percentage of workers who belong to unions, is much lower. Lower, also, is their pay. The median income for free states, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is $29,100. In the right-to-work-for-less states, that salary dropped to $24,600. This is a result of legislation that was deceptively titled and pitched as a benefit for workers, much like the “Worker paycheck protection” bills currently being drafted in several states, which cripple unions’ ability to involve themselves in politics.

Unions Provide Greater Job Stability and Production

Despite the efforts of some companies to keep the workplace union-free, they also reap the rewards of an organized workforce. A lower turnover rate and increased workforce stability results in much higher productivity in a unionized workplace. It seems that when workers have a voice and are treated with respect, they are also inclined to put more of themselves into their job.

Unionized construction firms have reported up to a 38 percent higher productivity rate than their non-union counterparts. Studies have shown a similar discrepancy in the furniture, manufacturing, hospital and cement plant industries.

Union representation has proven to be better for workers and the workplace itself. A unionized workplace is a better place to work. It is safer and pays better, and provides workers with a voice to management with the muscle to back it up. A union worker is a worker who receives more pay, more benefits and, just as important, respect and an ear from management. That’s the union difference!

Giving Workers A Strong Voice

Charts and statistics on these pages, which were recently compiled and released by the AFL-CIO, point at the very real advantage of belonging to a union.

What they don’t show is that union membership brings even more than better pay and benefits.

Union protection means that if a worker is mistreated there is a strong organization standing by to lend a hand. For the average worker, clout provided by the union can help right the kind of everyday injustices that can occur in the workplace.

Workers at VIP home health care services in New York city know firsthand what having a union contract can mean. After a difficult organizing campaign RWDSU Local 670 members at VIP had an additional fight in securing their first contract. The company was finally forced by the courts to bargain an agreement with the union.

“Now everyone will be treated more fairly,” said Princess Hamilton, a VIP employee who has worked to build support for the union. “It used to be that some employees would get a raise and others wouldn’t, or if the boss liked you, you would get the better assignments. With a union contract there are rules and that means everyone is treated fairly.”

RWDSU Alabama and Mid-South Coucil members working at the newly organized Tyson poultry plant in Cleveland, Mississippi are also enjoying the benefits of their first union contract. At a plant were complaints of favoritism and sexual harassment were commonplace, the changes were immediate and sweeping. In addition to providing wage increases, the contract establishes a grievance procedure so employees can address problems at the workplace without fear of reprisal. They also now have in writing vacation time, holidays and bereavement leave and an agreement that a health and safety committee would be established.

Here’s just one example of how a union can make a difference. When David Turner, a member of RWDSU Local 938 in Montezuma, Ga., was fired by his employer, Southern Frozen Foods he was fortunate he had a union. Turner had worked at the plant for 25 years and had never been disciplined or received a poor job evaluation, but was fired after a company manager found some squash in Turner’s truck. The manager didn’t bother to check out Turner’s claim that his supervisor had told him that the squash had been rejected and he could feel free to take it home.

The RWDSU stepped in and took the case to arbitration, where Turner was awarded his job back along with full back pay for the time he had been out of work.

“The union got my job back,” Turner said, “everyone should be a union member.”

“Having a union means there is someone to help you stand up for your rights on the job,” said RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum. “It means having a voice on the job and being treated fairly and decently at work. With a union you don’t have to stand alone. A union means workers have the strength to protect themselves and improve their work lives.”