Why unions still matter

According to the report, U. About two-thirds of union workers age 18 to 64 are women or people of color. Working people in unions use their collective power to secure a fairer share of the income they create.

This conclusion holds up at the global level, according to a recent International Monetary Fund study showing that lower unionization rates were associated with an increase in the share of income going to the top 10 percent of the population. The importance of these studies is clear: Unions are the most important institution in the fight against inequality. But for too long, many liberals seemed happy to watch unions disappear. Part of the problem is that they misunderstood unions as primarily economic institutions, interested in parochially negotiating wages and benefits for their members.

In reality, unions are far more important as political actors promoting policies that benefit the working class and middle class as a whole.

We can only hope it is not too late. Source: Economic Policy Institute , The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera America's editorial policy. Sorry, your comment was not saved due to a technical problem.

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What unions do Unions not only give their members a voice at work but also can have much broader political effects. Unions are the most important institution in the fight against inequality. Monthly Review Press. Skip to content Home Why Unions Matter. Why Unions Matter by Michael D. CTW has done little to establish core jurisdictions assigned to specific unions, and it is doubtful that it will.

But to describe the Democratic Party nominee, Barack Obama, as a strong supporter of unions and the labor movement would be a stretch. Not much in the way of international solidarity has been achieved by CTW either, certainly nothing that would distinguish its unions from any number of AFL-CIO affiliates. Ironically it was the United Steelworkers union, an AFL-CIO stalwart, that forged a merger with an amalgamated British union to create a true international organization.

So first New Voice, then Change to Win. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Unfortunately, these two efforts to change the lives of workers have done little to affect what has really been changing, namely the conditions under which working men and women labor. In addition, neither New Voice nor Change to Win has done anything to change the ideological terrain.

The government is a denier of individual freedom and a thief that takes our hard-earned money. Its only legitimate function is to defend the country from the collective hordes bent on destroying our hallowed way of life.

We are, each of us, on our own, and this is a good thing. When we act in groups, we inevitably act against our own interests and trample the liberty of others. The labor movement has not challenged this world view effectively. It has not come out foursquare for publicly funded universal health care. It has not rejected in toto the imperialism evident in every aspect of U. It has not begun a national discussion on race, the main divider of workers.

Union organizers for Barack Obama have gone out of their way to avoid talking about race to members who have expressed reservations about the candidate. Labor has continued to embrace the reactionary idea of partnership with employers, which is a cornerstone of the program of Change to Win. Tellingly, it has, with a few exceptions, failed to educate its members in any but a superficial way, leaving them in the dark on the issues that matter most. In the internal structure of its unions, it has replicated its class enemy.

Some union leaders sneer at the very thought of democracy. We all need a compass to find our way. For workers, unions and a labor movement must provide that compass. They have not. Until they do, no amount of top-down reform, no new union federation, no increase in union density will provide for workers the freer and richer lives they deserve.

Amidst the many failings and shortcomings of unions and the labor movement, there have been bright spots too. Not long after the first edition went to press, many unions joined the fight for global justice and against the uncontrolled globalization that had been driving wages and working conditions downward worldwide.

The most famous struggle occurred in Seattle in