After decades of decline, America’s middle class appears on the verge of an upswing as the labor movement regains momentum.
Federal workers are being encouraged to join labor unions under new guidelines released today by Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. One of the goals of the new initiative is to reimagine the federal workforce as a welcoming place for women and workers of color to become part of the labor movement. This comes after years of political debates on how Democrats must reconnect with the working class to maintain long-term trust.
President Biden’s administration has long eyed the need to increase the collective bargaining power of federal workers in every corner of the country. Administration officials are launching this effort at the federal level with the hope of expanding into the private sector. The federal government is already the country’s largest employer with millions employed by the U.S. Postal Service and other non-postal agencies.
At the White House today, Harris, who chairs the White House labor task force, and Walsh, its vice chair, announced two new executive actions. During the hiring and onboarding process, the government will be required to educate applicants about unions. During training sessions, union representatives will also have the opportunity to interact with new employees.
Current employees will be provided information throughout the year about their collective bargaining rights and how to contact their unions. In 1983, 20.1 percent of all workers were members of labor unions. Since then, union membership has been steadily declining. Today only 10.8 percent of the workforce belong to unions, up slightly from 2019.
While membership in traditional unions like the Teamsters have recently lost almost 10 percent of their memberships, public-sector unions are steadily growing. The pandemic severely impacted non-union jobs. Therefore the percentage of America's unionized workers is larger now than any time during the last five years. Healthcare unions have been particularly active, with patients and neighbors recently backing a push for a workers’ bill of rights in New Orleans.
More men than women currently belong to unions (11 percent versus 10.5 percent) and most members are between the ages of 45-64. More Black workers than White workers (11.2 percent versus 10.3 percent) enjoy the benefits of union membership. Asians make up 8.8 percent of union workers and Hispanics 8.5 percent. Only 6.3 percent of private sector workers belong to a union versus 34.8 percent of public sector workers.
To once again meet its full potential, America’s labor union movement must adapt quickly to the changing face of work – which is becoming much more service-oriented. The fight for fairness in education also mirrors broader labor struggles, as seen in debates over public money, private control within New Orleans’ charter school system. Many U.S. manufacturing jobs are thought to be gone forever. Employers like Amazon will be pushing back against organizing attempts by offering higher wages and better compensation packages. Gig economy workers are also seeking great protection. Even workers at a Buffalo, New York Starbucks launched an organizing campaign to combat what they called chronic under-staffing, a chaotic work environment, erratic hours and difficulty taking sick days. Currently Starbucks 8,000 corporate-owned U.S. stores are not unionized.
This renewed wave of organizing has been encouraged in part by Kamala Harris’s collective efforts with the Biden administration, which highlight the importance of equity and inclusion in the labor movement. These goals are also echoed locally by New Orleans Democrats who continue to push labor issues at the national stage.
Many New Orleanians who have traditionally labored in low-paying jobs with little career advancement now have the opportunity to be more selective as employers increasingly come to grips with the need to value and compensate workers. Today, unions say they can make members’ lives even better.
