Building a Union Business
Unions Are Good for Business, Productivity and the Economy
According to Professor Harley Shaiken of the University of California-Berkeley, unions are associated with higher productivity, lower employee turnover, improved workplace communication, and a better-trained workforce.
Prof. Shaiken is not alone. There is a substantial amount of academic literature on the following benefits of unions and unionization to employers and the economy.
- Economic Growth
- Productivity
- Competitiveness
- Product or service delivery and quality
- Training
- Turnover
- Solvency of the firm
- Workplace health and safety
- Economic development
Economic Growth
During the period 1945-1973, when a high percentage of workers had unions, wages kept pace with rising productivity, prosperity was widely shared, and economic growth was strong. Since 1973, union density and collective bargaining have declined, causing real wages to stagnate despite rising productivity. This decline in union density and bargaining contributed to the current financial crisis and severe recession, as unsustainable asset appreciation and easy credit too the place of wage increases most workers were not getting.
Productivity
According to a recent survey of 73 independent studies on unions and productivity: “The available evidence points to a positive and statistically significant association between unions and productivity in the U.S. manufacturing and education sectors, of around 10 and 7 percent, respectively.”
Some scholars have found an even larger positive relationship between unions and productivity. According to Brown and Medoff, “unionized establishments are about 22 percent more productive than those that are not.”
Product/ Service Delivery and Quality
According to Professors Michael Ash and Jean Ann Seago [5] heart attack recovery rates are higher in hospitals where nurses are unionized than in non-union hospitals. According to Professor Paul Clark, nurse unions improve patient care by raising staff-to-patient ratios, limiting excessive overtime, and improving nurse training.
Another study looked at the relationship between unionization and product quality in the auto industry. According to a summary of this study prepared by American Rights at Work:
“The author examines the system of co-management created through the General Motors-United Auto Workers partnership at the Saturn Corporation…The author credits the union with building a dense communications network throughout Saturn's management system. Compared to non-represented advisors, union advisors showed greater levels of lateral communication and coordination, which had a significant positive impact on quality performance.”
Training
Several studies in have found a positive association between unionization and the amount and quality of workforce training. Unionized establishments are more likely to offer formal training. This is especially true for small firms. There are a number of reasons for this: less turnover among union workers, making the employer more likely to offer training; collective bargaining agreements that require employers to provide training; and finally, unions often conduct their own training.
Turnover
Professor Shaiken also finds that unions reduce turnover. He cites Freeman and Medoff’s finding that “about one fifth of the union productivity effect stemmed from lower worker turnover. Unions improve communication channels giving workers the ability to improve their conditions short of ‘exiting.’”
Solvency
Labor’s enemies assert that unions drive employers out of business, but academic research refutes this claim. According to Professors Richard Freeman and Morris Kleiner, unionism has a statistically insignificant effect (meaning no effect) on firm solvency. Freeman and Kleiner conclude “unions do not, on average, drive firms or business lines out of business or produce high displacement rates for unionized workers.”
Workplace Health and Safety
Employers should be concerned about workplace health and safety as a matter of enlightened self-interest. According to an American Rights at Work summary of a study by John E. Baugher and J. Timmons Roberts:
“Only one factor effectively moves workers who are in subordinate positions to actively cope with hazards: membership in an independent labor union. These findings suggest that union growth could indirectly reduce job stress by giving workers the voice to cope effectively with job hazards.”
The benefits of unions in terms of safer workplaces are hardly new. According to one most recent study, unions reduced fatalities in coal mining by an estimated 40 percent between 1897 and 1929.
Economic Development
Unions also play a positive role in economic development. One good example is the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership, “an association of 125 employers and unions dedicated to family-supporting jobs in a competitive business environment. WRTP members have stabilized manufacturing employment in the Milwaukee metro area, and contributed about 6,000 additional industrial jobs to it over the past five years. Among member firms, productivity is way up--exceeding productivity growth in nonmember firms.”
Building Trades protest non-union construction associated with HCMC
Submitted by JohnSee on Wed, 10/19/2011 - 10:06pmMinneapolis Building Trades members are questioning how a facility associated with Hennepin County Medical Center – one of Minnesota’s leading publicly operated health institutions – can be built by a California company using non-union, out-of-state workers. Union members protested Wednesday at the site of the nearly completed, $15 million distribution center in an industrial park in Rogers. They carried signs and chanted, “Minnesota jobs for Minnesota workers!” Read more »
AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust Honors over 150 Workers at Flux Apartments
Submitted by JohnSee on Wed, 09/21/2011 - 11:35amThe AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust (BIT) and Greco Development LLC recently held an appreciation luncheon to honor union workers at the Flux Apartments' construction site in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. Over 150 workers, all members of unions affiliated with the Minneapolis Building and Construction Trades Council, were in attendance. Guests were also joined by national and local labor leaders who recognized the BIT for its commitment to job creation in the area and praised the workers for their skill and professionalism. Read more »
Oil Sands hearing on September 29: Get on the bus!
Submitted by JohnSee on Thu, 09/15/2011 - 1:46pmBuilding Trades' presence is critical for a hearing in Pierre, South Dakota, about the proposed Keystone XL project. As with everything, those who show up, win. And if we do not show up, this pipeline- and a refinery project that depends on it-means the loss of 20,000 jobs. Read more »
Obama, Trumka Talk National Infrastructure As MN Shutdown Freezes 100 Construction Projects
Submitted by JohnSee on Thu, 07/07/2011 - 12:26pmWe Party Patriots: Yesterday’s Twitter Town Hall caused much ado online. Millions of Tweeps partook, mocked and ignored the event, in which President Obama fielded questions via Twitter (presumably the most commonly asked questions earned air time) and answered them.
Of particular interest to the private sector was Obama’s discussion of infrastructure investment, wherein he chided House Speaker John Boehner, suggesting the famous-for-golfing GOP leader would “see the light.” Read more »
MN2020: Infrastructure Work Screeches to a Halt
Submitted by JohnSee on Thu, 07/07/2011 - 11:22amDozens of construction sites around Minnesota have been halted due to the state shutdown. Securing these sites takes days and costs thousands over the project budgets, and further delays from the freeze could add up to serious delays through the construction season. It's time to end the shutdown and put Minnesotans back to work.
65th Annual Convention of the MN State Building & Construction Trades Council
Submitted by JohnSee on Sun, 06/12/2011 - 3:01pmThe 65th Annual Convention of the Minnesota State Building & Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO, will be held Thursday, and Friday, July 21 & 22, 2011, at the Holiday Inn & Suites, 200 West First Street, Duluth, MN 800-477-7089.
Registration begins at 8:00 AM on Thursday, July 21, and the Convention will be called to order at 12:00 PM. A tentative agenda is in this article.
Each affiliate in good standing will be entitled to the following number of delegates:
BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCILS - 4 delegates Read more »
Star Tribune, 3/21/2011: Dayton: Let's get building
Submitted by JohnSee on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 10:03am
From an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, By RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGER; Photo by David Brewster, Star Tribune. The governor renewed his call for a bonding bill and also reiterated his backing for a new Vikings stadium. To construction workers and their bosses, Gov. Mark Dayton pitched his vision Tuesday for digging the state out of the construction doldrums: a new Vikings stadium and spending on state buildings. "We need a people's stadium," Dayton said to union members in work vests who visited the Capitol. Read more »
2011 Local 49 Day at the Capital
Submitted by JohnSee on Thu, 03/24/2011 - 1:50pmEvery day at the Minnesota State Capitol decisions are made about how to allocate state government dollars. It is critical that 49ers voices are heard in this debate. We need politicians to invest our tax dollars building the infrastructure that betters our state and puts you to work. The Local 49 political team is up there every day fighting for your jobs, but you have a critical role to play. Your elected officials need to hear from you about the terrible jobs climate out there in construction.
They need to understand the struggle that you and your family face everyday. Read more »
Anti-PLA Witness Cites I-35 Bridge Re-Build in MN...
Submitted by JohnSee on Mon, 03/21/2011 - 9:45am...BUT FORGOT THAT IT WAS BUILT WITH A PLA! A congressional subcommittee convened a hearing today to lambast the Obama Administration's Executive Order that encourages the use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on federal construction in excess of $25 million. One of the anti-PLA witnesses was Linda Figg, CEO of Figg Engineering. Her testimony offered some surprising revelations. Read more »
AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust Invests $50 Million to Renovate 1,300 Housing Units in Minnesota
Submitted by JohnSee on Thu, 02/24/2011 - 2:46pm
The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) announced a $50 million commitment of union pension capital to finance the substantial rehabilitation of the historic Riverside Plaza apartment complex. The investment will modernize the 1,303 housing units at the aging Minneapolis landmark, with work on the $123 million project expected to generate an estimated 635 union construction jobs. Read more »