There’s good news for unions attempting to attract the young members that
they must attract if they are to grow. It comes in recent studies showing
clearly that younger workers do better as union members and that increasing
numbers of the workers agree.
The basic figures, compiled by the Center for Economic and Policy Research,
certainly are convincing. Unionized workers aged 18 to 29 averaged about $15
an hour -- more than 12 percent or about $1.75 an hour more than non-union
workers of the same age.
What’s more, 40 percent of the unionized workers had employer-financed
health care, while only 20 percent of those outside unions had such
benefits. Almost 30 percent of those in unions had pension plans, only 11
percent of those outside. Most of the unionized workers also had such other
benefits as paid holidays and vacations.
The contrast was even greater for workers in the 15 lowest paid jobs,
including kitchen helpers, housekeepers, laborers, security guards, stock
clerks, teachers’ aides, child- care providers and others. The median pay
of young unionized workers in those jobs was about $11 an hour, nearly $2
more than their non-union counterparts. They also were much more likely to
have health and pension benefits.
Whatever the occupation, and however they were measured, unionized young
workers did better – unionized men better than non-union men, unionized
women better than non-union women, unionized African Americans and Latinos
better than non-union workers in those categories.
Economist John Schmitt, the study’s author, noted that younger workers, who
have “the weakest foothold in the labor market,” have been the age group hit
the hardest by stagnant and declining wages over the past three decades.
After adjusting for inflation, the wage of a typical young worker has
decreased by about 10 percent. Earnings have remained low even while there’s
been a marked increase in the number of younger people earning four-year
college degrees and a decrease in the number leaving high school without
diplomas.
Yet despite the obvious advantages of union membership that has brought
better pay and benefits to the younger workers who’ve joined, younger
workers generally have had the lowest unionization rate of any age group.
Only about 7 percent are in unions, compared with the rate of about 12
percent for workers in general.
Other recent studies indicate that the economic situation for younger
workers is worsening. They say that young people are so heavily hit by
declining incomes, growing debt, and the high costs of home ownership and
health care they could very well be the first generation not to surpass the
living standards of their parents.
But well over half the workers say they hope to avoid that by unionizing.
Joining a union would not only help them improve their own status and help
reverse what’s been a steady decline in union strength. It would also bring
new strength to union efforts in behalf of important social, economic and
political reforms backed by unions.
As the studies show, a high proportion of young workers support much greater
government spending on health care and education, for instance – even if
that requires higher taxes – and more government services generally.
Unionization should be especially attractive to the young workers who feel
that way, since union members are assured a greater voice in political
affairs and community activities, given organized labor’s prominence in
such matters.
The most important thing the young workers can expect from unions is a
guarantee of dignity – the promise, as one union organizer noted, “of being
treated like a man or woman, with rights and abilities that management must
respect.”
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Copyright © 2008 Dick Meister, a San Francisco-based journalist who has
covered labor issues for a half-century. Contact him through his website,
www.dickmeister.com.
