{"id":233,"date":"2026-08-12T21:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T21:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/summitrelocationtimess.com\/?p=233"},"modified":"2026-08-12T21:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T21:40:12","slug":"affordabilitys-key-ingredient-is-union-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/summitrelocationtimess.com\/?p=233","title":{"rendered":"Affordability’s Key Ingredient Is Union Power"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Affordability\u2009\u2014\u2009or the lack thereof\u2009\u2014\u2009has dominated the recent political debate in the U.S. And for good reason. Across the country, too many families are struggling to make ends meet. However, almost every conversation about affordability focuses entirely on prices, as if the only way to make life more affordable is to make things\u00a0cheaper.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Francesca Hong on What Democratic Socialism Means to Her<\/a><\/p>\n

But the actual driver of today\u2019s affordability squeeze is suppressed pay\u2009\u2014\u2009a consequence of decades of policy choices that weakened workers\u2019 bargaining power and shifted income away from working people. Had pay for typical workers kept pace with productivity over the past 45<\/span>\u00a0years, their paychecks today would be roughly 40<\/span>%\u00a0larger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If policymakers are serious about addressing affordability, they would champion one institution that has consistently proven capable of raising pay:\u00a0unions.<\/p>\n

Through collective bargaining, unions are the most effective mechanism for workers to raise their wages and secure their fair share of the wealth they produce. Our new report at the Economic Policy Institute quantifies how transformative it would be to rebuild union power. Specifically, we examine what we stand to gain if we tripled current union membership to 30<\/span>%\u2009\u2014\u2009similar to its peak in the U.S. before decades of relentless attacks on unions and collective bargaining eroded it, and just shy of the current rate in\u00a0Canada.<\/p>\n

We find that tripling union membership would raise pay for the typical worker by more than $7<\/span>,700<\/span> every year, or nearly $270<\/span>,000<\/span> over a\u00a035<\/span>-year career. This would be life-changing for a\u00a0working family\u2009\u2014\u2009nearly covering the cost of raising a\u00a0child from birth through age 17<\/span>, for example. And those increases aren\u2019t just for unionized workers\u2009\u2014\u2009strong unions also benefit nonunion workers by establishing broad standards that employers must follow to get and keep the workers they\u00a0need.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The gains from tripling union density would be especially significant for Black and Hispanic workers, who get a\u00a0larger boost from unionization than white workers. This is because unions provide transparency and other guardrails that help protect workers from employer discrimination, and because unions deliver larger wage gains for lower-wage jobs, where Black and Hispanic workers are disproportionately concentrated due to the pervasive effects of racism on labor market outcomes. Tripling union density would close one-third of today\u2019s racial wage\u00a0gaps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you add up the impact across the workforce, tripling union density would shift $1<\/span>.2<\/span> trillion annually to working people and away from corporate elites\u2009\u2014\u2009reversing one-third of the rise in inequality since\u00a01979<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The benefits of achieving 30<\/span>% union density extend far beyond wages. Since unions often win better benefits, including health insurance, tripling union membership would result in 25<\/span>% fewer uninsured\u00a0Americans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Make No Mistake\u2014The Left Is on a Winning Streak<\/a><\/p>\n

By educating workers and boosting voter turnout, strong unions also protect democracy and give workers a\u00a0voice in shaping the social and political fabric of their communities. States with high union density invest more in public education, deliver unemployment benefits to a\u00a0far greater share of jobless workers, and have all expanded\u00a0Medicaid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The world our report imagines is not out of reach. Unions are more popular now than they\u2019ve been in decades, especially among younger workers. And survey data show that 43<\/span>% of nonunion workers would vote to unionize if they could\u2009\u2014\u2009well above our goal of\u00a030<\/span>%.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Meeting this moment will require not just sustained organizing by workers and unions across the country, but also bold reforms to reverse decades of attacks on unions and collective bargaining. It\u2019s high time lawmakers translate the public\u2019s near-record support for unions into\u00a0policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Policymakers have a\u00a0clear roadmap to rebuilding union power. Congress can start by passing two existing bipartisan bills that would reform U.S. labor law and strengthen workers\u2019 right to unionize: the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate\u00a0Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Congress should also consider bold new ideas alongside the labor law reform bills already on the table. We offer a\u00a0few such proposals in our report. One guarantees that newly unionized workers can get a\u00a0first contract that includes a\u00a0raise. Another proposal requires collective bargaining at any company where CEOs earn 100<\/span> times more than typical workers in their industry\u2009\u2014\u2009allowing workers to negotiate a\u00a0fairer share of company\u00a0profits.<\/p>\n

States have a\u00a0role to play as well. By repealing anti-union \u200b\u201c<\/span>right-to-work\u201d laws and ensuring collective bargaining rights for all public-sector workers and other workers not currently covered by federal labor law, states can take their own steps to grow union\u00a0power.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rebuilding union membership would raise wages, shrink racial wage gaps, expand health coverage, strengthen communities, and protect our democracy\u2009\u2014\u2009all at the same time. There is no other policy lever that does all of that. It\u2019s what workers want. And it\u2019s entirely within our power to\u00a0achieve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Molly Crabapple\u2019s Next Major Project Is With In These Times<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tripling union membership would raise wages, reduce inequality and strengthen communities. Policymakers should take note.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-labor"],"yoast_head":"\nAffordability's Key Ingredient Is Union Power - Summit Relocation Timess<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/summitrelocationtimess.com\/?p=233\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Affordability's Key Ingredient Is Union Power - Summit Relocation Timess\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tripling union membership would raise wages, reduce inequality and strengthen communities. 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