LABOR UNIONS: 5 Biggest Corporate Lies About Them
5 Biggest Corporate Lies About Unions. Dont believe the corporate lies. Todays unions are growing, expanding, and boosting the wages and economic prospects of those who need them most. Robert Reich, Common Dreams. 9/3/19.
Wealthy corporations and their enablers have spread 5 big lies about unions in order to stop workers from organizing and to protect their own bottom-lines. Know the truth and spread the truth.
Lie #1: Labor unions are bad for workers. Wrong. Unions are good for all workers even those who are not unionized. In the mid-1950s, when a third of all workers in the United States were unionized, wages grew in tandem with the economy. Thats because workers across America even those who were not unionized had significant power to demand and get better wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions. Since then, as union membership has declined, the middle class has shrunk as well.
Lie #2: Unions hurt the economy. Wrong again. When workers are unionized they can negotiate better wages, which in turn spreads the economic gains more evenly and strengthens the middle class. This creates a virtuous cycle: Wages increase, workers have more to spend in their communities, businesses thrive, and the economy grows. Since the 1970s, the decline in unionization accounts for one-third of the increase in income inequality. Without unions, wealth becomes concentrated at the top and the gains dont trickle down to workers.
Lie #3: Labor unions are as powerful as big business. Now way. Labor union membership in 2018 accounted for 10.5 percent of the American workforce, while large corporations account for almost three-quarters of the entire American economy. And when it comes to political power, its big business and small labor. In the 2018 midterms, labor unions contributed less than 70 million dollars to parties and candidates, while big corporations and their political action committees contributed 1.6 billion dollars. This enormous gulf between business and labor is a huge problem. It explains why most economic gains have been going to executives and shareholders rather than workers. But this doesnt have to be the case.
- When workers are unionized they can negotiate better wages, which in turn spreads the economic gains more evenly and strengthens the middle class.
Lie #4: Most unionized workers are in industries like steel and auto manufacturing. Untrue. Although industrial unions are still vitally important to workers, the largest part of the unionized workforce is workers in the professional and service sectors retail, restaurant, hotel, hospital, teacherswhich comprise 59% of all workers represented by a union. And these workers benefit from being in a union. In 2018, unionized service workers earned a median wage of 802 dollars a week. Non-unionized service workers made on average, $261 less. Thats almost a third less.
Lie #5: Most unionized workers are white, male, and middle-aged. Some unionized workers are, of course, but most newly-unionized workers are not. Theyre women, theyre young, and a growing portion are black and brown. In fact, its through the power of unions that people who had been historically marginalized in the American economy because of their race, ethnicity, or gender are now gaining economic ground. In 2018, women who were in unions earned 21 percent more than non-unionized women. And African-Americans who were unionized earned nearly 20 percent more than African-Americans who were non-unionized.
Dont believe the corporate lies. Todays unions are growing, expanding, and boosting the wages and economic prospects of those who need them most. Theyre good for workers and good for America.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/09/03/5-biggest-corporate-lies-about-unions
CrispyQ
(36,460 posts)All other non-human entities only have privileges. That includes labor unions, non-incorporated businesses, churches, civics groups, & governments. Human beings compete with non-living entities, entities that don't need clean air & fresh water & healthy food. Entities that don't require healthcare or an environment. Entities that can change their name with the filing of some papers & that live forever. Entities that are beholden to the bottom line, not human well being. These are the entities that the GOP Congress serves, not the We the People entities.
Slavery is the fiction that people are property.
Corporate personhood is the fiction that corporations are people.
Reclaim Democracy's Corporate Personhood page
on edit: If you were born after 1980, all you've ever heard is that unions are bad.