Talking about the Importance of Unions and Economic Security
Working people should have the right to stick together and demand fair treatment for everyone in our country’s workplaces. Collective bargaining as a union member demonstrates how, as Americans, we’re all in this together. This right is critically important at a time when families face steep obstacles to economic security and mobility. Unionized workplaces represent important pathways toward equal opportunity across racial, gender, and other identities.
This memo offers advice on how to talk about the strong role of unions in securing greater and more equal opportunity for all. We must push lawmakers to pursue all available avenues to strengthen the right of working people to organize through a union.
Themes to Highlight
1. Frame unions as being about our right to stick together. Research from Topos recommends framing the formation of unions as a right, thereby shifting the conversation to emphasize the people in them. They suggest the following message: “Collective bargaining” means employees sticking together as a group so they speak with a more powerful voice. In order for employees to be heard, it’s often necessary to band together so companies take them seriously. And many employers try to prevent this so they can limit workers’ power. 2. Remind audiences how unions benefit all of us. It’s important to talk about how workers’ ability to organize and sustain unions benefits everyone – individuals, families, and whole communities. When union membership is high, entire workplaces and even regions enjoy wages that represent a fair return on work and greater social and economic mobility. The Economic Policy Institute documents this point here. As researchers from Topos suggest, the story of who makes up unions is also important. In fact, today’s unions represent Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life: 46 percent of union members are women, 36 percent are people of color, 42 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher, 40 percent work in education or health care, and 21 percent work in transportation, utilities and manufacturing. 3. Focus on shared values. Lead with the values you share with your audience, instead of with dry facts or rhetoric. Values to uplift include:- Community: The strength of our nation springs from the unity of our diverse people. We are all in it together as Americans and as human beings. When we care about the progress of all members of our society, opportunity is no longer just about personal success but also about our success as a people.
- Economic security: We should all have the tools to meet our, and our families’, basic needs.
- Equal opportunity: Everyone deserves a fair shot at American ideals of prosperity and economic security. Unions increase fairness in the workplace, giving women and people of color a more equal chance to advance and contribute to their full potential.
- Our constitutional right to organize unions: We have the right to stick together and advocate for ourselves. Powerful interests want to strip us of that right.