- Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley and Culinary Workers Union Local 226 Secretary-Treasurer Geoconda Arguello-Kline speak in front of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas this summer. Las Vegas hotel workers are among those fighting to unionize.
- ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES
Unions routinely try to gain members by touting the higher median wages their members earn compared with nonunion workers.
Nowhere is that gap greater than among Latinos, notes a new report that suggests the labor movement should take advantage of this fact to help rebuild unions and aid Hispanics.
The report issued this week by the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, a group representing the interests of more than two million Latino trade unionists, is designed to spur unions to redouble their efforts to organize workplaces with heavy concentrations of Latino workers.
The report, which cites Labor Department statistics to demonstrate the wage disparity, is as much about the troubled state of unions as it is about the struggles of many Hispanic workers.
Union membership is stagnant after decades of decline brought on in part by changes in the U.S. workplace. Many of the private-sector manufacturing jobs that helped form the foundation of unions have been sent overseas or become nonunion. Last year, one in every 11 U.S. workers belonged to a union, compared with one in every five, or 20.1%, about 30 years ago.
Many Hispanic workers have meanwhile found themselves in low-wage jobs at levels disproportionate to other groups, particularly in the service sector and construction. Of the 26 million Latinos in the U.S workforce, more than 24% are in low-wage jobs, according to the study, often leaving them without adequate health-care coverage, retirement benefits or workplace-safety and wage protections.
This combination of factors along with changing U.S. demographics makes unions and Latinos perfect partners, the study says. “If unions are to survive and rebuild in the near future, there is no doubt that Latinos and all minorities will have to join the labor movement.”
Unions aren’t oblivious to the role Latinos could play in a rebound. They’ve fought to overhaul immigration laws with the hope of organizing newly legalized workers who might become more likely to join a union. They’ve also increasingly targeted low-wage industries such as health care and retail. As white union membership fell nearly 13% between 2003 and 2013, Hispanic union membership jumped 21%, according to Labor Department figures.
Still, Hispanic workers are less likely to be represented by a union than other major racial and ethnic groups. Organized labor isn’t taking full advantage of putting Latinos’ union wage advantage to good use, said Victor Baten, the policy and advocacy coordinator for the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. “You can use that to organize workers,” he said. “This organization wants to make clear: Here you have a growing population.”
The council’s report cites Labor Department data showing full-time wage and salary workers who were represented by a union last year earned a median $965 a week, compared with $763 for nonunion workers –a difference of $202, or 26% more. When broken down according to major racial groups, the wage advantage was the greatest for union-represented Hispanics, the data show. Such workers had median earnings of $795 a week, compared with $573 for the nonunion workers, a difference of $222, or 39% more.
The council’s researchers also used the Labor Department’s weekly data for annual estimates. By that measure, the median earnings of union-represented Hispanics was $41,340 last year, or $11,544 more than nonunion workers –about $5.60 more per hour assuming a 40-hour workweek.
Latinos aren’t the only group that unions might rely on to help grow membership in the coming years. Recent research shows that women, particularly those of color, could also help drive unions’ growth.
Related reading:
Unions Seize on Immigration Debate
Are Women the New Face of Organized Labor?
Membership Rate Falls for U.S. Unions in 2014
from Real Time Economics http://ift.tt/1Fypo81
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