Worker activism has swept across the U.S., from Hollywood to Detroit, as workers affected by the pandemic are agitating for higher wages and safer working conditions and organizing at companies such as Starbucks And Amazon, has historically avoided organized labor. Now, the White House is pro-labor in a report Monday, highlighting its efforts to support workers’ organizing and the many economic benefits workers see from organizing — even if they aren’t unionized themselves.
“Evidence shows that unions strengthen the middle class and boost the economy by boosting member wages, improving health care, retirement, and predictable scheduling benefits,” according to a report. conjoint analysis From the White House and the Treasury Department.
Inequality has increased since the mid-20th century, as national economic output has increasingly gone to the top 1 percent of the income scale, while middle-income households have fallen further behind. Since the 1970s, “income has become more volatile, vacation time has decreased, and middle-class Americans are less prepared for retirement,” while the likelihood that children are better off than their parents has declined. The report states.
Against this backdrop, unions can “build the economy from the middle by raising middle-class wages, improving the working environment and promoting demographic equality” to counter the trend, the report said.
“Unions can contribute to reversing the marked rise in inequality in recent decades and boost overall economic growth,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
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Union workers earn, on average, 10% to 15% more than non-union workers and are more likely to receive retirement and health care benefits. Unions also raise wages for non-union workers in their industries, as competing companies are forced to raise wages or improve working conditions to attract employees.
“When unionized workers bargain for higher wages, it increases pressure on non-union companies to raise wages and keep the labor market competitive,” said Vice President Kamala Harris, who leads the White House labor task force, which is Created and bargained for in support of labor organizing,” told reporters.
“There have been recent signs of a resurgence in the labor movement, with petitions for the 2022 union election bouncing back from the pandemic to the highest level since 2015, and union opinion at its highest level in more than 50 years,” the analysis said.
Still, coverage of the strikes and the government’s touts of its pro-labor sincerity masked the fact that union membership was falling across the country.January Department of Labor Report The proportion of U.S. workers represented by unions will be 11.3% by 2022, down 0.3 percentage points from a year ago and the lowest percentage since the government started tracking the figure in the 1980s, the report said. Globalization, automation and decades of deteriorating legal support for workers have contributed to a decline in union participation, government officials say.
President Joe Biden, leaning on key labor support as he campaigns for a second term, held his first re-election campaign rally at Union Hall in Pennsylvania in June, declaring: “I’m proud to be the most pro-union president in American history.”
The government’s backing comes as unprecedented worker organizing this year — from strike mandates to lockouts — has hit multiple industries, including transportation, entertainment, hospitality and health care.
Especially since the end of the pandemic, workers demanding higher wages, better working conditions and job security have become increasingly willing to strike as demand from employers for workers has increased.
The Cornell Industrial & Labor Relations Industrial Action Tracker recorded 424 work stoppages in 2022, including 417 strikes and seven lockouts, involving approximately 224,000 workers.
Hollywood screenwriters have been on strike since early May, but have yet to reach an agreement with studios. Starbucks employees have formed unions in more than 350 stores across the country, and a group of Amazon employees have also joined the International Brotherhood of Truckers, hoping to gain union recognition.
Autoworkers, represented by the United Auto Workers union, recently voted overwhelmingly to give leaders the right to strike against Detroit automakers Stellantis, General Motors and Ford if a contract deal is not reached. The union still has not supported Biden. Ascension to the 2024 presidential election. arrive.
The contract is expected to expire in September.
Since Biden took office, the administration has implemented a series of executive orders to make it easier for union representatives to organize on federal property and to strengthen retaliation protections for private sector workers.
Top U.S. labor groups, including the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, have backed Biden’s 2024 campaign.
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