Yesterday, Democratic lawmakers released another plank in their “Better Deal” agenda. The policy proposals included focus on strengthening workers’ collective voice and ability to negotiate for better wages and working conditions. These are critical components of any meaningful attempt to reform an economy that is rigged against working people. They are essential to creating a fair economy. And they stand in stark contrast to Republican efforts to further advantage those at the top with a tax proposal that would provide 80 percent of its benefits to the top 1 percent—households that currently have incomes of around $730,000 or more.

While the Republican tax proposals will do nothing to help boost workers’ wages or overall economic leverage, today’s “Better Deal” agenda would help to address these issues by promoting workers’ freedom to organize and bargain collectively. The steady decline in unionization over the last 40 years has led to rising inequality and stagnant wages for the American middle class. Not only do union workers earn higher wages, unions have strong positive effects on the wages of comparable nonunion workers, as unions help to set standards for industries and occupations.

Figure A Union membership and share of income going to the top 10 percent, 1917–2015 Year Union membership Share of income going to the top 10 percent 1917 11.0% 40.3% 1918 12.1% 39.9% 1919 14.3% 39.5% 1920 17.5% 38.1% 1921 17.6% 42.9% 1922 14.0% 42.9% 1923 11.7% 40.6% 1924 11.3% 43.3% 1925 11.0% 44.2% 1926 10.7% 44.1% 1927 10.6% 44.7% 1928 10.4% 46.1% 1929 10.1% 43.8% 1930 10.7% 43.1% 1931 11.2% 44.4% 1932 11.3% 46.3% 1933 9.5% 45.0% 1934 9.8% 45.2% 1935 10.8% 43.4% 1936 11.1% 44.8% 1937 18.6% 43.3% 1938 23.9% 43.0% 1939 24.8% 44.6% 1940 23.5% 44.4% 1941 25.4% 41.0% 1942 24.2% 35.5% 1943 30.1% 32.7% 1944 32.5% 31.5% 1945 33.4% 32.6% 1946 31.9% 34.6% 1947 31.1% 33.0% 1948 30.5% 33.7% 1949 29.6% 33.8% 1950 30.0% 33.9% 1951 32.4% 32.8% 1952 31.5% 32.1% 1953 33.2% 31.4% 1954 32.7% 32.1% 1955 32.9% 31.8% 1956 33.2% 31.8% 1957 32.0% 31.7% 1958 31.1% 32.1% 1959 31.6% 32.0% 1960 30.7% 31.7% 1961 28.7% 31.9% 1962 29.1% 32.0% 1963 28.5% 32.0% 1964 28.5% 31.6% 1965 28.6% 31.5% 1966 28.7% 32.0% 1967 28.6% 32.0% 1968 28.7% 32.0% 1969 28.3% 31.8% 1970 27.9% 31.5% 1971 27.4% 31.8% 1972 27.5% 31.6% 1973 27.1% 31.9% 1974 26.5% 32.4% 1975 25.7% 32.6% 1976 25.7% 32.4% 1977 25.2% 32.4% 1978 24.7% 32.4% 1979 25.4% 32.3% 1980 23.6% 32.9% 1981 22.3% 32.7% 1982 21.6% 33.2% 1983 21.4% 33.7% 1984 20.5% 33.9% 1985 19.0% 34.3% 1986 18.5% 34.6% 1987 17.9% 36.5% 1988 17.6% 38.6% 1989 17.2% 38.5% 1990 16.7% 38.8% 1991 16.2% 38.4% 1992 16.2% 39.8% 1993 16.2% 39.5% 1994 16.1% 39.6% 1995 15.3% 40.5% 1996 14.9% 41.2% 1997 14.7% 41.7% 1998 14.2% 42.1% 1999 13.9% 42.7% 2000 13.5% 43.1% 2001 13.5% 42.2% 2002 13.3% 42.4% 2003 12.9% 42.8% 2004 12.5% 43.6% 2005 12.5% 44.9% 2006 12.0% 45.5% 2007 12.1% 45.7% 2008 12.4% 46.0% 2009 12.3% 45.5% 2010 11.9% 46.4% 2011 11.8% 46.6% 2012 11.2% 47.8% 2013 11.2% 46.7% 2014 11.1% 47.3% 2015 11.1% 47.8% Chart Data Download data The data below can be saved or copied directly into Excel. The data underlying the figure. Sources: Data on union density follows the composite series found in Historical Statistics of the United States; updated to 2015 from unionstats.com. Income inequality (share of income to top 10 percent) data are from Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, “Income Inequality in the United States, 1913–1998,” Quarterly Journal of Economics vol. 118, no. 1 (2003) and updated data from the Top Income Database, updated June 2016. Share on Facebook Tweet this chart Embed Copy the code below to embed this chart on your website. Download image

Working people understand that the economy is not working for them and broadly support the right to organize. In fact, the majority of American workers would vote for union representation if they could. However, current policy fails to ensure that workers have this basic freedom. As private employer opposition to organizing has intensified, policymakers have failed to ensure that the law responds to the realities of the modern workplace. American workers deserve policies that boost our wages and restore our economic leverage and bargaining power. The agenda Democratic lawmakers introduced yesterday would make important strides toward this goal. Ensuring that working people can freely choose to join a union and bargain for better wages and working conditions, that workers are able to exert economic leverage when negotiation fails, and that employers who infringe on workers’ freedoms face meaningful penalties is important. In fact, this was the promise of the National Labor Relations Act enacted over 80 years ago. Now, lawmakers need to work to again make this agenda a reality for America’s workers.