UNION FACTS: THE VALUE OF COLLECTIVE VOICE
The union difference is more money in your pockets to buy a home, start a family, pay down student loan debt and save for retirement.

Better Pay and Benefits

  • Union members earn better wages and benefits than workers who aren’t union members. On average, union workers’ wages are 11.2% higher than their nonunion counterparts.
  • Ninety-six percent of union workers have employer-provided health insurance, but only 69% of nonunion workers do.
  • Unions help bring more working people into the middle class. In fact, in states where people don’t have union rights, workers’ incomes are lower.

The Union Difference
Median weekly earnings of full-time workers by union affiliation, 2024

Note: Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.
[Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics]

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Secure Retirement

Working people in a union are more likely to participate in an employer-provided guaranteed pension plan than working people without a union (54% compared to 8%).

Union Workers Are More Likely to Have Health and Pension Benefits

Percent of civilian workers with access to selected benefit programs, 2024.
[Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics]

Productivity

Unions help employers create a more stable, productive workforce—where workers have a say in improving their jobs. Unions also provide a voice on the job, which is something that money can't buy. ​

The Union Difference

​Workers in a union have:
  • higher wages (11.2% more than what nonunion workers make)
  • employer-provided health insurance (96% compared to 69%)
  • access to paid sick days (93% compared to 75%);
  • retirement benefits through private employers (82% to 48%); and
  • guaranteed pensions through private employers (54% to 8%).

Unions Improve Pay and Working Conditions for All Workers—Especially Workers of Color
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The union advantage is even greater for people of color, women, immigrants, and others who have confronted workplace discrimination. A union contract is a potent weapon against unequal pay and structural racism because it establishes fair and transparent systems for hiring and firing, wages and more.
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Black, Latino and women workers are paid 26%, 39.2% and 23.8% more, respectively, when they belong to a union. Union contracts pay women and men the same for doing the same job. You cannot be fired for your sexual orientation or gender identity under a union contract.