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Connecticut has seen, in recent weeks, a slew of high-profile labor organizing battles. Employees are trying to unionize at Hearst, the largest newspaper chain in our state; workers at several Starbucks stores are continuing to seek recognition. In New Haven, hotel workers at the Omni, one of the major downtown establishments, demonstrated together last weekend.
These fights have attracted headlines both because of the underlying stories behind each conflict—workers fighting for better conditions—and because they are relatively rare. Labor disputes and union organizing used to be much more common across the country for most of the 20th century. It took the concerted effort of several Republican administrations to push back against organized labor. Their success paved the way for the significant upward redistribution of wealth that we have seen in recent decades—and that the resurgence of unions in recent years has the potential to reverse.
The history begins, as many things in American politics do, with Richard Nixon. In 1968, when he was first elected President, close to one-third of private sector workers were part of organized labor. Union membership was unevenly distributed geographically (with Northern and Midwestern states having much higher rates than the South), but unionized workplaces provided a strong backbone for the American economy. They offered higher wages, better benefits, good working conditions, pensions, and job security that other employers had to match to attract workers. Organized labor was also the core of the New Deal coalition, making it a prime target for Republicans.
To weaken unions, Nixon used a straightforward strategy: stop enforcing labor laws. For decades, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was the federal agency tasked with arbitrating disputes between employers and workers trying to unionize. Nixon filled it with pro-business Republican loyalists, then proceeded to either rewrite the rules, ignore union-busting tactics, or slow-walk enforcement to the point of irrelevance. By 1976, private-sector union membership had fallen to 21%. After a small reprieve during the Carter administration (a single point drop), membership plummeted during Reagan and Bush. By 1992, just 11% of private sector workers were unionized; by 2020, it had fallen to 6%.
The decline of private-sector unions closely mirrored a steady, equally relentless increase in income and wealth inequality. In 1980, the top 1% of American households received around 10.7% of all income. Their share had increased to nearly 15% by 1992 and close to 20% by 2020. Companies no longer had to compete to attract employees from other unionized workplaces with good wages and benefits; As more workers lost their protections (often because unionized factories moved to Southern states with even laxer labor laws), they engaged in a race to the bottom, cutting wages and benefits while providing CEOs and shareholders increasingly extravagant returns.
In recent years, however, some of these trends have either slowed or begun to reverse. Years of tight labor markets and low unemployment have pushed wages for low-income workers higher (a trend that started during Obama’s second term); the strong economic recovery after the pandemic has accelerated this trend. Low unemployment, however, is not sufficient to reduce inequality or give workers the capacity to meaningfully push back against employers by organizing a union. Thankfully, the Biden administration has revived the NLRB as an agency ready and willing to defend labor rights, appointing strong advocates who are committed to overturning many of the Nixon and Reagan-era rules that rendered the agency ineffective.
Many of the changes implemented within the NLRB involve technical adjustments that might not make headlines (like employee status, the scope of protected concerted activity, the representation process, and remedies for legal violations) but are incredibly important. The agency has also devoted significant effort to reversing many anti-worker regulations enacted under Trump. Other changes are more noticeable, such as increased funding for enforcement and an expanded workforce.
It is too early to see the full impact of these changes. The number of union workers employed in the private sector, however, increased by 191,000 to 7.4 million in 2023, and unionization rates have begun to slowly, albeit glacially, trend upwards. Polls show widespread support for unions, and we have seen a new wave of successful organizing across the country, with workers gaining representation in previously unassailable employers like Amazon, or auto workers voting to unionize in the South.
We know that unionized workers earn 18% more than their non-union peers, with better benefits and job security. We also know that as the share of unionized workers grows, the bargaining power of all workers increases. As Labor Day approaches, it is a good time to remember how unions have been a driving force behind American prosperity—and why, after years of political attacks and unabashed class warfare, we should welcome their comeback.
Happy Labor Day, everyone.