Unions: Are women the new face of organized labor?

Whereas trends worldwide point to an overall decline in trade unionism power, a growing female union presence in the US could indicate a shift in the labor agenda to issues that are traditionally associated with women.

As reported by John T. Addison in his IZA World of Labor paper on the consequences of trade union power erosion, there has been an unambiguous decline in unionism worldwide, which can be equated with dwindling union power. However, as men’s union membership has fallen, women’s has risen, leading the Center for Economic and Policy Research to forecast that women will make up the majority of unionized workers in the US by 2025.

Women’s increasing prominence dates back to the 1980s when many public sector jobs were unionised in the US—an area of employment where women and African Americans have historically been overrepresented—and is already influencing what workers demand at the bargaining table, e.g. antidiscrimination clauses, contract provisions related to working hours and sick days, etc.—issues that disproportionately affect women.

Union membership could also be helping to close the gender pay gap. Analysis by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research shows that women in unions have median weekly earnings 31% higher, on average, than non-union workers, translating to around $2.50 extra per hour.

IZA World of Labor author Alex Bryson has written about the effects unions have on wages. He says that “[d]espite declining bargaining power, unions continue to generate a wage premium.” He warns that “[w]ithout unions bargaining successfully to raise worker wages, income inequality would almost certainly be higher than it is.”

A recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that unions representing subcontracted employees could also potentially bargain with the lead firm, by expanding the definition of what constitutes a “joint employer,” could also benefit more women and minorities, who make up two-thirds of the low-wage workforce.

More on this story can be read in the Wall Street Journal.

Related articles:
The consequences of trade union power erosion, by John T. Addison
Union wage effects, by Alex Bryson
Collective bargaining in developing countries, by Carlos Lamarche
Employment and wage effects of extending collective bargaining agreements, by Ernesto Villanueva