Unions Help Create an Economy That Works for Everyone
In the U.S., labor unions work to raise wages and working conditions and support policies to improve the lives of working people. They are important inside firms and more broadly in society as well. Unions give workers a voice at their worksites where workers collectively bargain for higher pay and better working conditions. When unions represent a sufficient share of workers in an industry, they also raise job quality in that industry for all workers, even those who aren’t unionized. Unions also play an important role in advocating for policies that improve the lives of working people – things like increasing access to health care, raising the minimum wage, and enforcing higher safety standards. On the job and in the political system, unions serve as an important counterweight to the organized power of business.
U1 shows that as unions have declined, inequality has surged.
Inside firms and in society, unions are a force for economic equality and their decline is associated with increasing inequality. This is clear in U1 where the top line shows the share of income going to the nation’s richest 10 percent. Since the 1980s, this share has increased dramatically as income inequality has reached similar levels to the early 20th century “Gilded Age.”
The bottom line in U1 charts the share of the workforce in unions. Unionization tripled from 10 to 30 percent in the 1930s and 1940s stayed steady through the 1960s. Slow decline began in the 1970s and then accelerated. Since the 1980s, union membership has fallen dramatically back to the level of the mid-1930s. That decline mirrors the sharp increase in the richest ten percent’s income over the same decades.
Despite low rates of unionization, public support for unions in recent years has risen. In recent years, the Gallup poll found that 67% of Americans approve of labor unions — a level of public support that hasn’t been reached since 1965. Labor struggles of the United Auto Workers, Teamsters and Hollywood writers have made the news, as has new union organizing at Amazon and Starbucks. Workers and their unions have been standing up, and these actions have inspired interest in the labor movement, especially among younger workers.
This renewed enthusiasm has not yet translated into meaningful gains in union membership. In future years, we’ll know if growing enthusiasm, high profile labor actions, and low unemployment together might change the long decline of unions and actually increase unionization and worker power.
Workers Building Power In Wisconsin
In Wisconsin, despite anti-union policy, workers continue to work together to form unions and improve their jobs. In Milwaukee, workers in the Deer District secured an industry leading contract for their concessions, food service, and security jobs. Their union, MASH, continues to expand its reach and impact work which we documented in “Community Benefits, to Collective Bargaining, and Back: Building Worker Power in Milwaukee“.
Wisconsin Unionization
Despite proud union history, union membership in Wisconsin has fallen dramatically.
Wisconsin’s history of strong unions and their dramatic decline is clear in U2. In 1989, 22 percent of Wisconsin workers were in unions and the unionization rate in the state exceeded national levels. Union representation has been falling in the U.S. and the state since. Wisconsin’s decline has been more pronounced, and in 2012, the State’s unionization rate fell below the national average. In 2023, just 8% of Wisconsin workers were in unions. Wisconsin’s rate is less than half the state’s 1989 level.
U3 provides trends in unionization in the public and private sectors and shows the dramatic decline of public sector unions.
Across the early 2000s, more than half of public sector workers in the state were union members. Since 2011, unionization has fallen by more than half, with just 24.3 percent of public sector workers in unions in Wisconsin in 2023. This is the result of state policy which undermined the state’s public sector unions. (See next section for details on Act 10.)
Private sector workers have also experienced a decline in union membership. The 2015 passage of “right to work” legislation which makes operating unions in the private sector much harder has had a negative impact on unions in the state as well. However, the chart makes clear that public sector unionization has fallen much more dramatically.
Wisconsin Public Sector Unions: Redefined in 2011
The cratering of public sector unions in Wisconsin is the direct result of state policy.
In 2011, despite an outpouring of support for public sector bargaining rights, the state legislature passed Act 10 which restructured the terms of Wisconsin’s public sector unionization, reducing public unions’ power, relevance, and membership.
The structure of Act 10 does not actually prohibit the existence of public sector unions. Rather, it restructures the rules around them, limiting their power and relevance and making it extremely difficult to operate. For example, Act 10 limits the bargaining of public-sector unions to only wage increases that cannot exceed the rate of inflation. This obviously undermines the relevance of wage negotiations and leaves some of the most important issues to workers — benefits, safety, and scheduling – off the table. Further, employers are not allowed to collect union dues in paychecks, even when workers demonstrate and document interest in such collection.
Additionally, Act 10 requires an annual vote to maintain its certification as a union. In that vote, the union must receive support of at least 51% of all members of the unit, regardless of how many members actually vote. Taken together, Act 10 has reduced the potential positive impact of public sector unions while substantially increasing the burden of operating them. Public sector unions have been devastated as a result.
In the last year, several public employee unions in the state have brought legal challenges to Act 10. The outcome of these cases is not clear yet, but as they move through the courts, there may be changes and restoration of some public sector bargaining rights in the coming year.
Union Trends in Wisconsin vs. Neighboring States
U4. Wisconsin posts the worst decline in union membership in Midwest.
From 2011 to 2023, Wisconsin’s unionization rate fell by more than one third, from 14.1 to 8.4 percent. Over the same period, the national rate fell from 13 to 11.2 percent. The Wisconsin decline is 3 times faster than the nationwide decline and the most rapid decline in the region.
State trends in unionization reflect both state policy and industrial structure. With unionization falling from 15.8 to 14.1 percent over 2011-23, Minnesota has experienced very little decline. Unionization in Illinois and Michigan slightly outpaced the national rate of decline, while Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin saw the most dramatic decline. In the last year, Michigan has repealed its anti-union “right to work” law which may influence union rates in coming years there.
Unions and Wages
When unions are strong, they raise labor standards throughout the economy.
Despite federal and state policies that have impeded unionization over the last half century, unions continue to provide workers with the means to improve wages and working conditions in their jobs. When unions win strong contracts, as the UAW did, non-union worksites raise wages in response (as Toyota’s U.S. facilities did just after the UAW contract was signed). Unions are also a social force, supporting policy that helps workers, families, and communities thrive. Unions have been essential partners in movements to raise the minimum wage, to defend the ACA, and to secure strong protections and support for all workers. Workers in Wisconsin continue to organize, to pursue their collective interests, and improve their work and communities. State and federal policy changes could help support this work, but the work will go on in any policy environment, as long as workers see reason to join together in order to improve their jobs.