6 Reasons Collective Bargaining Matters
Posted on 06/10/24 by Ali Smith (she/her) in Work & Wages
When you set out to organize your workplace, or sit down at the bargaining table, knowledge is power. We’ve pulled together some of the most important economic data for organizers and bargaining teams to know, so you can win the best possible contract for your unit.
Unions are popular! 67% of Americans approve of labor unions and 641,000 Ohioans were members of a union in 2023. Worker power is growing and now is a great time to join a union or organize your workplace and form a union.
Collective bargaining means workers have a say in their workplace. “Collective bargaining is the process in which working people, through their unions, negotiate contracts with their employers to determine their terms of employment, including pay, benefits, hours, leave, job health and safety policies, ways to balance work and family, and more.” - AFL-CIO
Many workers are joining or organizing unions because inequality between workers and their employers has skyrocketed as rent, grocery, childcare, and utility costs increase. Use Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator to see what monthly and annual costs your family needs to achieve basic economic security.
- Median share of income spent on rent in 2022: 28%, representing steady increase after a decade of decline. Find local data for your county on homeownership and rent.
- If your grocery bill was $100-per-week at the start of 2021, you had to pay $121.10 by the end of 2023 to get the same groceries.
- An Ohio family must make $250,385 a year to afford care for an infant and a toddler at the average childcare center.
- Between 2020 and 2023, annual gas/electric costs for Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus residents increased 16-23%.
Through collective bargaining, workers can win higher wages and provisions like Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) that maintain the value of their pay, ensuring it keeps up with inflation. Check out the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI Inflation Calculator to see how the spending power of your wage has changed over time.
Wages get eroded over time by inflation. Depending on when your employment or contract started, you need to make more today to keep the same buying power. For your pay to have the same purchasing power in 2024 as it did in 2023, you’d need a 3.5% raise, to have the same purchasing power in 2024 as it did in 2019, you’d need a 22.9% raise. This is just the cost of living adjustment, before you make any “real wage” gains that would boost your buying power.
- March 2023 to March 2024: 3.477%
- March 2022 to March 2024: 8.636%
- March 2021 to March 2024: 17.916%
- March 2020 to March 2024: 21.005%
- March 2019 to March 2024: 22.868%
You can also bargain for a lot more than just pay. In their contracts, people win things like better paid holiday & vacation day policies, paid family and medical leave policies with an expansive definition of “family, sick time policies that support you and your families, low health insurance copays, stronger mental health coverage, consistent, transparent scheduling policies, public transit passes, pay transparency in hiring and promotions and equal pay policies.
Workers are protected from employer retaliation in response to union organizing. Employers can’t reduce pay, hours, or benefits, fire or demote employees. And Collective Bargaining Agreements can further protect workers from termination without cause.
There is also sector specific data available to support and inform your bargaining and organizing efforts. For example:
In the manufacturing sector, Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators had the most common manufacturing job in 2023 with 99,020 workers. They were paid a wage of $19.31-per-hour at the median.
In the accommodation and food services, only 36% of private companies offered healthcare benefits in 2023.
In the construction industry, one study showed that union jobsites were 19 percent less likely to have health and safety violations than non-union jobsites.
Download the printable factsheet!