UNIONS & LABOR

Problem

Working people built America, yet today they face an emergency: they are earning less, working harder, and being denied the wealth they generate.

The last fifty years have exposed the urgent reality.

Union collapse

• Union membership has collapsed—from over 33 percent in the 1950s to just 10 percent today, undermining worker power.

• Only 6 percent of private-sector workers are unionized.

Workers produce more but receive less

• Productivity up 60+ percent since the 1970s

• Wages up only 17 percent

Corporate profits soar

• Record profits every year for more than a decade

• CEO pay has increased by over 1,200 percent since 1978

• Workers' pay has only increased by 15 percent.

Illegality is normal

• In 40 percent of union drives, employers illegally break labor law and face little consequence.

• Retaliation is routine

• Powerful corporations like Starbucks and Amazon routinely delay, intimidate, and fire workers to crush union efforts.

Union advantage

• Union workers earn 10–20 percent more.

• Far more likely to have healthcare, retirement, paid leave, and safety protections

Workers of color benefit most

• Black, Latino, and immigrant workers gain the largest wage boosts from unionization.

• Yet they are heavily excluded from union-dense sectors.

The system is rigged to weaken workers' power and escalate wealth extraction upward.

Solutions

1. Pass the PRO Act

• Ban retaliation for organizing.

• End captive-audience meetings

• Force fast elections and require first-contract arbitration.

• Raise penalties for union-busting
  
  Outcome: Organizing is protected, less risky, and practical for workers.

2. Guarantee labor rights for all workers

• Extend bargaining rights to gig workers, farmworkers, domestic workers, contract workers, and public employees.

• Close loopholes that allow corporations to dodge employer status
  
  Outcome: Labor rights stop being optional.

3. Make unionizing simple and scalable

• The majority sign up (card check)

• Neutrality agreements for federal contractors

• Portable union membership across jobs

Outcome: Worker power extends across industries, not just individual workplaces.

4. Raise wages and benefits across the economy

• $20 federal minimum wage tied to inflation

• Paid family and medical leave

• Universal sick leave

• Pension and retirement guarantees

• Universal healthcare to remove employer leverage
  
  Outcome: One job becomes enough to live on.

5. Protect safety and dignity at work

• Expand OSHA enforcement and triple penalties.

• National heat and wildfire smoke protections

• Ban forced overtime except in emergencies.

• Strong whistleblower protections

• Enforce safety in restaurants, warehouses, timber, retail, food processing, and healthcare
  
  Outcome: Workers stay alive and healthy.

6. End wage theft

• Make wage theft a criminal offense.

• Joint liability across franchises and supply chains

• Rapid-response enforcement teams

• Mandatory restitution with damages
  
  Outcome: Stealing from workers becomes risky rather than the standard practice.

Bottom Line

America will not survive on low wages, broken unions, and unchecked corporate power.

Rebalancing power toward workers means higher wages, safer workplaces, stable families, and stronger communities.

Unions built America's middle class. Only urgent action and rebuilding worker power will save our future.