U.S. Department of Labor: Union membership has big advantages

Every year or so Hotel Voice prints information showing the advantages workers have when they are union members. The information is based on statistics gathered by the federal government through the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The latest statistics are out, and once again they show the vast advantages that union workers have over nonunion workers.

For starters, the statistics show that union membership helps raise workers' pay and helps narrow the income gap that disadvantages minorities and women. White male union workers earn 23 percent more than nonunion white male workers, according to the DOL's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Their median weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary work were $967 in 2008, compared with $789 for their nonunion counterparts. The union wage benefit is even greater for women and for workers of color! Union women earn 32 percent more than nonunion women, and African American union members earn 28 percent more than their nonunion counterparts. For Latino workers, the union advantage equals 43 percent! And for Asian American workers, the union advantage is six percent.

And, yes, just as you would expect, union workers are far more likely than their nonunion counterparts to be covered by health care and receive pension benefits. In its most recent report the U.S. Department of Labor states that 79 percent of union workers are covered by health insurance through their jobs, compared with only 52 percent of nonunion workers. The recent report shows that union workers are also far more likely to have retirement and paid personal leave.

A full 86 percent of union workers participate in pension plans versus 51 percent of non-union workers. Seventy-seven percent of union workers participate in defined-benefit pension plans, compared with 20 percent of nonunion workers. This is a distinct advantage for union members because defined-benefit plans are federally insured and provide a guaranteed monthly pension amount.

The Department of Labor has additional evidence of the advantages of union membership and that higher levels of unionization have a beneficial impact on entire communities. As an example, in states that have laws restricting workers' rights to form strong unions the average pay for all workers is lower. The statistics, from 2006, the most recent year where average wages in so-called right-to-work states was compared to states like New York that do not restrict union membership, prove this. In 2006 the average pay in "right to work" states was 13.1 percent lower than in states where workers have the freedom to form strong unions.

The union advantage even applies to low-wage jobs. Union members in low-wage occupations on average earn a great deal more than nonunion workers in the same occupations, often lifting their earnings above the official poverty level. For example, union cashiers in 2006 earned an average of $11.87 - 46 percent more than nonunion workers in the same occupation. Over a year's time, having a union card could translate into more than $7,800 in additional pay for such a low-wage worker. While the nonunion cashier's earnings, on average, leaves a worker $3,746 below the poverty line for a family of four, the union cashier's earnings, on average, brings the worker $4,075 above the poverty line for a family of four.

There are other examples. Nonunion carpet, floor and tile installers and finishers earned an average of $15.25 per hour in 2006, the last year this statistic was measured. At this hourly wage, a full-time, year-round non-union worker would earn $9,510 less than the annual earnings needed to surpass 200 percent of the poverty line for a family of four. Meanwhile, union carpet, floor and tile installers and finishers earned an average hourly wage of $28.71 - more than 88 percent more than the average wage for nonunion workers in that occupation. At this hourly wage, a fulltime, year round union worker would earn $18,487 more than 200 percent of the poverty line for a family of four.

But there's more good news behind union membership. There is a substantial amount of academic literature that shows that unions are good for economic growth, productivity, competitiveness, service and product quality, training, and company solvency. A coming edition of Hotel Voice will provide evidence of these additional advantages of union membership.