Opinion: Why aren’t there more labor unions?

“We aren’t anti-union, but we aren’t neutral either… We do not believe unions are in the best interest of our customers, our shareholders, or, most importantly, our associates,” says a cartoon worker in a leaked Amazon union video. This video, which urges workers to tell higher-ups if they hear words associated with unions, such as “living wage,” represents just one piece of anti-union material that big corporations have put out in their war on U.S. labor. 

At the same time as this war on labor, union membership in the United States has declined to an all-time low, with only 10.3% of workers in unions today, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Notably, this decline in union membership has come as support for unions is at a 50-year-high, with, according to Gallop, 71% of Americans supporting them. The reason for this difference between support for unions and their current strength is plain: there is a concerted effort by big businesses to suppress labor. 

Businesses like Amazon are typically pretty openly anti-union for a good reason, considering that the benefits to workers associated with unions increase costs and are enticing to workers. On average, union workers receive a wage 11.2% higher than their non-union counterparts. Additionally, unions provide spillover effects, which raise the wages of non-union workers. Unionized workers also have significantly higher health benefits and paid sick days off. And pivotally, all these benefits come with union dues representing only around 1% of salaries, typically. 

In the face of the generally considerable benefits of union membership to workers, often coming at a substantial cost to businesses, weak laws protecting labor unions and making forming one very difficult enable anti-union tactics. Though it is illegal, under U.S. law, to fire workers for unionizing, there is typically little action taken when this happens. Workers terminated for unionizing cannot bring lawsuits against their employer—Instead, they depend on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which has often been unfriendly toward labor. Ultimately, these hindrances make it easy for companies to employ anti-union tactics.

Owing to this lack of well-enforced labor protection laws, businesses like Amazon utilize aggressive anti-union tactics brazenly. Amazon plasters anti-union messaging throughout workplaces. Furthermore, company policies mandate that workers sit through videos and presentations of anti-union rhetoric, like the one previously mentioned, under threat of termination. Amazon workers have also been threatened with termination or cutting off benefits and pay if they vote to unionize. 

There is a sense of surveillance, too. In Amazon warehouses, mailboxes in which employees mail their union ballots have been moved to the entrance and exit of warehouses, giving employees a sense that their vote is not confidential. 

Lastly, Amazon pays union-busting consultants over $3,200 daily to harass workers. They follow them around the warehouse, constantly asking them questions about what is happening with their unionization attempt. 

Under the weak regulations surrounding forming a union, all these harmful tactics occur regularly, not just at Amazon but at businesses nationwide. The current lack of a unionized workforce, considering how popular labor unions are in the eyes of the public, attests to the strength of the anti-union status quo. In short, today in the U.S., through the meshing of weak government regulations and anti-union business interests, there exists systemic oppression of unions.

How, one might reasonably ask, given this systemic oppression of unions, can we even begin to push for change? 

There is, of course, no perfect answer. However, one viable path toward revitalizing unions involves crafting more equitable laws. Namely, regulations protecting union formation should undergo reinforcement, and many loopholes companies employ in busting unions should be closed. The benefits of higher wages are vital for women and minority workers, as the raise in pay helps reduce the gender pay gap and the pay gap between white workers and minority workers. Hopefully, such a path can produce more resilient, more equitable, and more widespread unions across the U.S.