[NJFAC] Union ‘effects’ on hourly and weekly wages

Union 'effects' on hourly and weekly wages: A half-century perspective David Blanchflower Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Economics Dartmouth College; Professor of Economics University Of Glasgow Alex Bryson Professor of Quantitative Social Science, Social Research Institute University College London  25 Jun 2024

Union membership across the developed world has been falling for decades. This column uses data on wages and hours worked in the US over the last 50 years to examine whether this has led to a fall in the 'union wage premium'. The authors find that while the hourly wage premium for union members has fallen notably since the 1970s, the differential in weekly wages has remained large, driven in part by union members working longer hours. This underexplored role of unions is important for the welfare of workers whose consumption is dependent not only on a decent hourly wage, but the offer of sufficient paid hours of work.

Across the developed world the proportion of workers who are union members has been declining for decades (Garnero et al. 2017).  Today the rate of membership in the US stands at 33% in the public sector.  In the private sector it is 6%, down from 24% 50 years ago. 

This decline is perceived by some to be indicative of a shift in bargaining power between employers and workers which has resulted in a decline in labour's share of income (Summers and Stansbury 2020).  Since the root of a union's ability to bid up wages above the market rate is its ability to call on its members to support its bargaining position and, if necessary, withdraw its labour through strike action, one might expect this decline in union density to have resulted in a secular decline in the union wage premium – the mark up unions achieve over the wage similar workers would get in the absence of the union.  But has it? The short answer is no.

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source: nakedcapitalism.com

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June Zaccone
National Jobs for All Network
http://www.njfac.org

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[NJFAC] expanding union movement in the South

How Workers Are Revolutionizing the South

David McCall, international president of the United Steelworkers Union (USW).

Independent Media Institute

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Local 1025 [USW] members shared firsthand accounts of how the union boosted their wages, gave them a voice, and kept them safe on the job. And in May 2024, the workers at Tarboro filed for an election to join the USW.

They're among a growing number of workers across the South eager to leverage the power of solidarity and build brighter futures, even as CEOs and Republicans in this part of the country still conspire to hold them down.

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About 1,400 workers at the Blue Bird electric bus factory in Fort Valley, Georgia, in 2023 voted overwhelmingly to organize through the USW.

The vote was a breakthrough for workers on the front lines of a vital, growing industry. It also sent a pointed, defiant message to a Republican governor who lies about unions and tries to prevent Georgians from joining them.

On the heels of that monumental victory, autoworkers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overcame Republican opposition and voted by a huge majority to unionize.....

Unions lift up entire communities, a U.S. Treasury Department report confirmed in 2023.

They raise members' wages by as much as 15 percent, creating a competitive environment in which non-unionized employers also must increase pay to hold on to workers. Union contracts provide workers with better benefits and retirement security than they'd otherwise earn, and their focus on workplace safety "can pull up whole industries," the report concluded.

Unions fight favoritism and discrimination, creating more equitable workplaces and communities. The collective spirit forged inside the organized shop extends beyond the plant gates, with union members not only voting more often than other workers but also volunteering and donating to charity more often.....

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June Zaccone
National Jobs for All Network
http://www.njfac.org

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