After nationwide repression of unions, wages fell more in markets where unions had previously delivered larger gains. When unions are weakened, pay falls.
The President fired the nation’s top labor statistician because the jobs numbers embarrassed him. On August 1, after BLS reported weak job creation and sizable downward revisions, the president dismissed Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, accusing her – without evidence – of faking data. Statisticians across the political spectrum condemned the move as an attack on the integrity of federal statistics.
By not filling vacancies, the National Labor Relations Board has been neutralized—any union-busting will go unchallenged. Bloomberg reports that the president also ordered federal agencies to cancel collective-bargaining rights. I recently met a longtime employee of the Veterans Administration who wondered if she would be fired before collecting her pension. This is not just a policy fight—it is a struggle over who gets to define the numbers, and whether workers get a voice and protection. The law and enforcement effectively bars Americans who want unions to get them.If Every Worker Could Vote For There Would 60 Million Union Members
The law won’t let them have one. Public support for unions is back to late-1950s levels: 68% approval this Labor Day—five straight years hovering near 70%. According to the Economic Policy Institute; if every worker had the chance to vote in a union election today, union membership would rise by 60 million. That would push union density from 9.9% to nearly 46% of the U.S. workforceEconomic Effects Of Unions: Making Economies Better
In the U.S. and in peer nations, the International Monetary Fund finds that when union density and bargaining power fall, the top 10% or 1% of earners grow richer faster.
