With 10% of the workforce unionized(BLS 2021), union are essential part of the labor market today. While union has helped many workers gain many benefits, it has also negatively affect the interest for the employers. Today’s union markets spans into different industry, from healthcare, to manufacturing, construction.

Why Unionize?

The No.1 reason why low wage worker that quitting or hating their job is low pay, and with different people having different perception of their paid, often when they are comparing their pay to the competitor, and when the wages are too low to provides a minimum standards are living to the family, they often find themselves helpless in bargaining a desired pay with the company. In the case of a BBC documentary visiting Foxconn, where many workers are being underpaid and they are faced with many seemingly unfair overtime rules and wage rules, many workers find themselves very helpless when trying to bargain for a fair wage, as a result, many workers chooses to end their life by committing suicide. Because unionization is prohibited in China, this channel of collective bargaining is also banned resulting many voices to be ignored, and forgotten. Unions in the United States uses the power of collective bargaining to negotiate benefits for their members, including but not limited to, increased pay, training, and more job opportunities. According to BLS, the median earning for union construction workers are 25% higher compared to non-union worker.

Why do companies hate union

With so many of the benefits of forming a union and having the power of collective bargaining, companies find themselves having to work harder and retain less earning when faced with union. although some companies like amazon tried very hard to prevent the formation of union, many companies are starting to recognized the added benefits of working with unions, such as having better trained workers and the flexibility or using union workers.