Tripling US union membership would shift $1.2tn to workers annually – report | US unions

Tripling U.S. union membership would lead to a 14.5 percent increase in the average U.S. worker, transfer $1.2 trillion annually to workers and significantly narrow racial wage gaps, according to a new report released Wednesday.

report A study from the Economic Policy Institute notes that union membership rates across the workforce, also known as union density, were once three times higher than they are today. Union density in the 1950s more than 30% before falling into decline in the 1960s. By the 1980s, union density 22.2% however, it will decrease further in recent years, falling to 10% in 2025.

Despite union density being low, public support for unions has remained high in recent years. more than 68% Percentage of Americans view unions favorably in 2025. more than 50 million US workers would join a union if they could.

The report notes that the decline in union density is due to companies’ aggressive efforts to bust unions and new anti-union laws. Declines in union density are also associated with increases in wealth and income inequality. Since 1979, worker productivity in the United States has increased 2.7 times faster than wage increases for workers.

“By making it increasingly difficult for workers to organize and bargain collectively, the wealthy have expropriated more and more income and wealth, destroying the U.S. middle class,” writes former U.S. labor secretary Robert Reich in the report’s foreword. “The wealth of the richest Americans has now exploded: The richest 0.1 percent own more than five times the combined wealth of the bottom half of the country.”

If union density in the U.S. tripled to 30 percent, the average worker would see a 14.5 percent increase in annual earnings of $7,700 (over $1.2 trillion annually for workers), or about $270,000 over a 35-year career. It would also narrow the racial wage gap and increase health insurance coverage. These changes would reverse one-third of the increase in inequality since 1979, according to the report.

The wage premiums that come with union membership have historically ranged from 15% to 20% and may be underestimated due to low union density, according to the report. Collective bargaining agreements also increase the wages of non-union workers.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to workers wherever you go (big city, small town) who say over and over again: ‘My rent keeps going up, my paycheck isn’t as long as it used to be, I go to the grocery store and I ask myself, when did it get this expensive?’ It’s just a constant.” Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the United States, said at a news conference Wednesday.

The report also offered a roadmap for how to increase union membership, including the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would strengthen collective bargaining rights, and the Public Service Freedom of Negotiation Act, which would secure collective bargaining rights for public sector workers. The report also includes recommendations that would guarantee annual wage increases for newly unionized workers and require collective bargaining in companies where the CEO/worker pay ratio exceeds 100:1.

Repealing “right to work” laws and restrictions on public sector bargaining would alone increase U.S. union density from 9.9% to 14.4%, according to the report.

The report notes that the benefits of increased union density include personal health and well-being; because states with higher union density have greater public education investment, Medicaid expansions, and voting rights.

“I think this report shows that there is no better way to solve what ails this country than to make it possible for more workers to join unions,” Shuler said. “Unions truly have the power to transform this country. They change lives. They change the trajectory of families. They change entire communities.”