'I'm in a Union—You're Welcome': How Having Strong Labor Unions Helps Everyone Who Works Earn More | Alternet

Millions of Americans today earn less than their predecessors did 40 years ago, adjusted for inflation, and a big reason for that is declining private-sector union membership—which has dropped from a third of all private-sector employees to just 6.7 percent today.

A new study released today by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that advocates for people of low and middle income, has attempted to quantify how much today’s nonunion workers would have benefitted if union membership remained as at the levels of 1979. The main takeaway: The typical full-time private-sector worker—whether a union member or not—would be making thousands of dollars more a year now if unions had the power they once did to influence a state’s or region’s standard wages and benefits packages....
http://www.alternet.org/labor/labor-unions-benefit-all-workers