Union members earn 26 percent more than their nonunion counterparts.
More than 75 percent of union workers have health benefits. Less than half of nonunion workers have health coverage.
Nearly 70 percent of union workers have a pension. Only 14 percent of nonunion workers have one.
The 10 states where unions are strongest have higher earnings, better health coverage, less crime, more civic participation, less poverty and better schools than the 10 states where union membership is lowest.
That is why more and more of America’s workers want union jobs or want a union where they work. More than 42 million non-union workers say they want to join a union. However, employers often harass, intimidate, and fire workers when they join together to form their union. Independent research shows that:
In the 1950s, the number of American workers who were fired, harassed or threatened for trying to organize a union was in the hundreds a year. According to Human Rights Watch, by 1990 that number exceeded 20,000. In 1979, one-fourth of private-sector workers were unionized; only 11 percent are today.
25 percent of employers illegally fire at least one worker for union activity during organizing campaigns.
75 percent of employers hire union-busters to fight union organizing.
78 percent of employers force employees to attend one-on-one meetings with their own supervisors against the union.
52 percent of employers threaten to call the Immigration and Naturalization Service during organizing that includes undocumented workers.
51 percent of companies threaten to close the plant if the union wins the election, however, less than 1 percent ever actually do that.
(source: AFL-CIO)