A new report from the Center for American Progress shows that union membership helps increase wealth and prosperity for families of color. The research comes on top of recent polls showing that more and more people are embracing the powerful benefits of collective bargaining.
Here are some of the key findings of the report:
When working people collectively bargain for wages, benefits and employment procedures, as union members they have higher wages, more benefits and more stable employment as a result of the bargaining agreement.
Household wealth is dependent on several factors, including income, savings, people having benefits like health insurance and life insurance.
Higher wages lead to higher savings, particularly when combined with job-related benefits, such as health and life insurance, since those benefits require union members to spend less out-of-pocket to protect their families.
Union members have higher job stability and protections, which lead to longer tenures at a workplace. This can lead to more savings as longer-tenured employees are more likely to be eligible for key benefits that accrue over time.
Nonwhite families with a union member in the household have a median wealth that is 485% as large as the median wealth of nonunion families of color.
Union members’ annual earnings are between 20 and 50% higher than those for nonunion members.
The benefits of union membership for nonwhite families is more significant than it is for white families because nonwhite workers tend to work at jobs with lower pay, fewer benefits and less stability. Union membership lowers the gap for everyone, but the gains are larger when you are starting from a lower level of income and benefits.
Union members also are less likely to experience a negative shock (a large change in income) and more likely to experience a positive shock.
This blog was originally published by the AFL-CIO on September 11, 2018. Reprinted with permission.
About the Author: Kenneth Quinnell is a long-time blogger, campaign staffer and political activist. Before joining the AFL-CIO in 2012, he worked as labor reporter for the blog Crooks and Liars.
