Collective Bargaining Benefits Non-Union Workers, Too

by Pablo Ros  |  September 04, 2012

A new report by the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, demonstrates that collective bargaining isn’t just good for unionized workers’ wages but for those of workers in general.

Unions have influenced the pay of non-union workers by fighting for norms and practices that have “become more widespread throughout the economy, thereby improving pay and working conditions for the entire workforce,” the report states.

EPI’s analysis ties “the ongoing erosion of unionization and the declining bargaining power of unions” to general stagnation in workers’ real wages and compensation. Those wages rose only 10.7 percent between 1973 and 2011, with most of that growth occurring in the late 1990s. Over the last decade, wage inequality has continued to grow between workers at the top and those in the middle.

“This has made the last decade a ‘lost decade’ for wage growth,” writes Lawrence Mishel, the author of the report.

Indeed, given the important role that unions play in setting standards for both union and nonunion workers, “we must ensure that every worker has access to collective bargaining,” he concludes.

For more on the decline of unionization as it affects the middle class, check out The Main Street Moment: Fighting Back to Save the American Dream, a recently released book from AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders and former Pres. Gerald W. McEntee.