News

Organized labor was the driving force behind the tremendous growth of employer-sponsored pension plans from the 1940s to the 1990s, with the number of Americans covered by pensions rising as more workers gained bargaining rights. Yet, today, with union membership in the U.S.

If you've got a union contract, you earn more — at least a little more, and sometimes a lot more — than minimum wage. Yet no group has worked harder than union members to raise the country's minimum wage and the standard of living for America's working poor.

The bumper sticker says it all: "Unions. The Folks Who Brought You the Weekend."

American workers who belong to unions, those who don't and even those who view unions with nothing but contempt have the labor movement to thank for the 40-hour workweek.

By nearly every measure, countries with full collective bargaining rights rank high in key workplace and quality of life issues for working families, from health care and retirement security to paid maternity leave and work hours. (See chart below for details.) 

This month, CWA News focuses on how the power of collective bargaining and worker organizat