MAINE LABOR UPDATE
July 24, 2007
 
Please Forward to Working Families
 
"UNIONS HELP ALL WORKERS"
Study Shows Everyone Benefits from Strong Unions
All Have Better Work and Safety Benefits

 FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK
Ed Gorham
President
Maine AFL-CIO

    Union members know what they gain from a union contract. But few people in Maine who do not belong to a union know that unions help the entire work force - organized or unorganized.

    This is one of the reasons big corporations and business organizations like Chambers of Commerce are so strongly anti-union.

    As the old saying goes, "A rising tide lifts all boats."
    The impact of unions on the pay and working lives of both unionized and non-union workers is detailed in a report by the Economic Policy Institute.

This report presents data on unions' effect on wages, fringe benefits, total compensation, pay inequality, and workplace protections.

Some of the conclusions are:

Higher Wages
 

• Unions raise wages of unionized workers by roughly 20% and raise compensation, including both wages and benefits, by about 28%.

• Unions reduce wage inequality because they raise wages more for low- and middle-wage workers than for higher-wage workers, more for blue-collar than for white-collar workers, and more for workers who do not have a college degree.

• Strong unions set a pay standard that nonunion employers follow. For example, a high school graduate whose workplace is not unionized but whose industry is 25% unionized is paid 5% more than similar workers in less unionized industries.

• The impact of unions on total nonunion wages is almost as large as the impact on total union wages.

Fringe Benefits

This is an area where the union advantage looms large and is one of the reasons why more than half of the American workforce says they would join a union - if they were not going to get fired for doing so - as is now frequently the case.

• The most sweeping advantage for unionized workers is in fringe benefits. Unionized workers are more likely than their nonunion zed counterparts to receive paid leave, are approximately 18% to 28% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance, and are 23% to 54% more likely to be in employer-provided pension plans.

• Unionized workers receive more generous health benefits than not unionized workers. They also pay 18% lower health care deductibles and a smaller share of the costs for family coverage. In retirement, unionized workers are 24% more likely to be covered by health insurance paid for by their employer.

• Unionized workers receive better pension plans. Not only are they more likely to have a guaranteed benefit in retirement, their employers contribute 28% more toward pensions.

• Unionized workers receive 26% more vacation time and 14% more total paid leave (vacations and holidays).

Unions play a pivotal role both in securing legislated labor protections and rights such as safety and health, overtime, and family/medical leave and in enforcing those rights on the job. Because unionized workers are more informed, they are more likely to benefit from social insurance programs such as unemployment insurance and workers compensation. Unions are thus an intermediary institution that provides a necessary complement to legislated benefits and protections.
 

Better Pay - Better Lives

Many fringe benefits, such as pensions and health insurance, were first provided in the union sector and then became more generalized. It is very likely true that the "union effect" pressures nonunion companies to continue to provide health care coverage to their employees

In an earlier era, non-wage compensation was referred to as "fringe benefits." However, items such as adequate health insurance, a secure retirement pension, and sufficient and flexible paid leave to manage work and family life are no longer considered "fringe" components of pay packages.

Thus, the union impact on benefits is even more critical to the lives of workers now than in the past. The EPI report presents evidence that unionized workers are given employer-provided health and pension benefits far more frequently than comparable nonunion workers. Moreover, unionized workers are provided better paid leave and better health and pension plans.

Health and Safety

Unions have played a prominent role in creating a broad range of labor laws and regulations to protect all workers. These include the National Labor Relations and Social Security acts of 1935, the Occupation Safety and Health Act of 1970 and the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993.

Unions are the only group working to develop and grow the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which provides workplace safety at all work sites, including nonunion companies. All workers are safer because of this.
 

According to the Economic Policy Institute, research has shown convincingly that unions have played a significant role in enforcing these laws and ensuring that even nonunion workers have access to benefits to which they are legally entitled.

Unions have provided labor protections for their members in three important ways:

1) they have been a voice for workers in identifying where laws and regulations are needed, and have been influential in getting these laws enacted;
 2) they have provided information to members about workers' rights and available programs; and
 3) they have encouraged their members to exercise workplace rights and participate in programs by reducing fear of employer retribution, helping members navigate the necessary procedures, and facilitating the handling of workers' rights disputes

Many New Areas

Unions have played a prominent role in the enactment of a broad range of labor laws and regulations covering areas as diverse as overtime pay, minimum wage, the treatment of immigrant workers, health and retirement coverage, civil rights, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation, and leave for care of newborns and sick family members.

 

Common to all of these rules is a desire to provide protections for workers either by regulating the behavior of employers or by giving workers access to certain benefits in times of need. Over the years, these rules have become mainstays of the American workplace experience, constituting expressions of cherished public values.

The research evidence clearly shows that the labor protections enjoyed by the entire U.S. workforce can be attributed in large part to unions. The workplace laws and regulations, which unions helped to pass, constitute the majority of the labor and industrial relations policies of the United States. However, these laws in and of themselves are insufficient to change employer behavior and/or to regulate labor practices and policies. Research has shown convincingly that unions have played a significant role in enforcing these laws and ensuring that workers are protected and have access to benefits to which they are legally entitled. Unions make a substantial and measurable difference in the implementation of labor laws.

As the popular bumper sticker goes about unions - "Unions - the folks that brought you the weekend." Well, this EPI report clearly shows that unions have in the last century brought American workers a whole lot more than just free weekends.

(NOTE: You can read the complete EPI report "How Unions Help All Workers" at http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/briefingpapers_bp143 )