UNIONS MATTER
SIGN THE PETITION | DOWNLOAD A PETITION | WHY UNIONS MATTER | OP-EDS | OPEN LETTER FROM WRB MEMBERS | IN THEIR OWN WORDS | ORGANIZATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS | ENDORSE | TV ADS | STUDENT ORGANIZING KIT | COALITION LOGIN
UNIONS MATTER
Latino Workers: Improving Their Families' Futures Through Unions
Because collective bargaining emphasizes equal pay and fair treatment in the workplace, union membership can be particularly important for Latino workers, especially immigrants. Struggling to get by and often altogether left out of the economy, Latino workers are turning to unions to have a fighting chance in American society.
There is a deep economic divide between Latino workers and the rest of the labor force in the United States.
• Income: The median Latino household income of $35,967 was 78 percent of the median U.S. household income of $46,326 in 2005.
• Pay: Latino men in 2006 made 66 percent of the median weekly earnings of their white counterparts. Latina women made 72 percent of the median weekly earnings of their white counterparts.
• Poverty: The poverty rate for Latinos (21.8 percent) was one and one-half times the rate for
non-Latino whites in 2005 (8.3 percent).
• Inequality in earnings: The earnings ratio of Latinos to whites has plummeted since the
early 1970s. In 1974, Latinos made 80.8 percent of what white workers made-by 2005, Latinos made only 71.6 percent of what white workers made.
• Largely service workers: Latinos represent 13.5 percent of all workers, but they are over-represented in such low-wage jobs as food preparation and serving (20.8 percent) and building and grounds maintenance (31.1 percent) jobs, and under-represented in such higher wage jobs as managers (7.0 percent).
• Education: In 2003, only 57 percent of Latinos 25 and older had graduated from high school.
Unions make a difference for Latino workers. Latino union members' wages are 46 percent higher than those of Latino workers without a union. Latino union members earn a median wage of $686 per week, while nonunion Latino workers earn just $469 per week. Higher union wages help Latino workers remedy discrimination on the job and raise the living standards for everyone in the community.
Union members are also much more likely to have employer-provided health care and defined-benefit pensions. Unions help end unfair treatment and remedy discrimi-nation because union contracts make sure management treats everyone fairly. That is why, as Latino workers have become an important driving force of the U.S. economy, they have also been entering unions in increasing numbers. In 2006, 1.8 million Latinos were union members, up by 16,000 since 2000.
Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics; U.S. Census Bureau.
Also read the Center for Economic Policy Research Report: Unions and Upward Mobility for Latino Workers
