The Center for American Progress Report (CAP) is out, and the results are definitive: labor unions are a crucial part of fixing our economy.
The state-by-state study reports that even a five percent national increase in unionization rates would pump more than $25 billion into the national economy, $77 million of which would go directly to Maine.
As the study reports, economic recovery starts not with big government bailouts, but with the purchasing power of average Americans. 70% of our nation's economy comes from consumer activity, but with income for the median working age household falling by $2000 between 2000 and 2007, so did the accompanying consumer activity. And an economy built on debt-driven consumption is unsustainable, as we can clearly see today.
Unions have been responsible for the creation of the middle class, and pioneered such benefits as health care, pensions, even the weekend. As Penni Therault, owner of Lots of Tots Child Care and President of Kids First, MSEA-SEIU, says, "We need to lift up as many workers as possible into the middle class...When workers are doing well, our economy does well. And when our economy is doing well, there is more funding to maintain good public jobs and quality public services."
The facts from the CAP report speak for themselves:
Unions Help Workers Achieve Higher Wages
- Between 2004 and 2007, unionized workers wages in Maine were 8.6 percent higher than similarly employed workers not a member of a union
- Maine workers that join a union will earn $1.54 more per hour than their identical non-union counterparts
Workers Wage Growth Lags as Productivity Increases
- If Maine's workers were rewarded for 100 percent of their increases in labor produc¬tivity between 1980 and 2008, average wages would be $23.27 per hour - 29.60 percent higher than the average real wage in 2008.
Unionization Rewards Workers for Productivity Growth
- If the rates of unionization in Maine were the same today as they were in 1983, new union workers in Maine would earn an estimated $144 million more in wages per year.
- If 5 percent more Maine's workers were union members, $77 million would be pumped into the state's economy.
- Non-union workers would also benefit, as employers would be likely to raise wages to match those of workers in a union.
Union employers are significantly more likely to provide employee benefits:
- Nationwide, union workers are 28.2 percent more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and 53.9 percent more likely to have employer-provided pensions than similar workers who are non-union.
Three out of five workers would join a union if they could (according to the Peter Hart Research Associates Poll). However, workers attempting to unionize currently face a hostile legal environment, with intimidation by aggressive anti-union employers the norm.
The Employee Free Choice Act would protect workers by ensuring a fair, majority sign up, penalizing employers who break unionization contract rules, and ensuring mediation to thwart bad-faith bargaining, all without big government spending. Boosting workers wages and benefits would provide a much-needed jolt to Maine's economy.
Let's improve our economy the American way, and pass the Employee Free Choice Act in support of unions.
