What Do Unions Do?

Basics
Unions dramatically improve the lives of their members. On average, union members earn almost a third more than their non-union counterparts. And they enjoy correspondingly higher quality and rates of coverage for job-based benefits (pensions and health insurance). On these points there is not much disagreement. But business interests, right wing foundations, and Republican legislators interpret these as narrow and selfish gains—insisting that benefits claimed by union members come at the expense of non-union workers, economic growth and competitiveness, and (with regard to public sector workers) state budgets. None of this is sustained by the facts.

Unions do not create a competitive disadvantage. While the costs and benefits vary across economic sectors, the higher labor costs imposed by unionization are more than balanced out by higher productivity and lower rates of turnover.

Strong unions set pay standards for non-union employers as well—effectively bidding up wages for all workers.

Unions actually narrow wage inequality, because their impact is greatest for lower income and less-educated workers. For a dramatic demonstration of this fact across the last century, see the animated graph at the following tab.

Aside from their economic contributions, unions provide broader benefits as well—a fact captured by the bumper sticker: “The Labor Movement: The Folks Who Brought you the Weekend.” Unions have played (and continue to play) a pivotal role both in securing basic labor rights and protections—ranging from wage and hour laws, to occupational health and safety, to “safety net” programs like social security. In turn, unions offer basic democratic representation at the workplace. Unions enable due process, and give workers a stronger voice in the broader community and in politics. As an intermediary institution, representing workers locally and nationally, the labor movement is an essential element of a thriving democracy.

Learn More
The Economic Policy Institute has a large body of research on union benefits, including its seminal study How Unions Help All Workers. The AFL-CIO also offers a concise overview of the broad benefits of union membership and union strength. For a recent overview of the “union advantage” across states, see the Center for Economic and Policy Research (2010) study, The Unions of the States.

Video: Unions and Shared Propserity

Recent Research Highlights

How unions help all workers

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