Dear John,

Did you know that President Glover Cleveland established “Labor Day” as a national holiday in 1894 after 125,000 railroad workers went on strike because their employer lowered their wages without lowering rents in their company-owned city? Eventually, the railroad corporation hired the strikers back with one stipulation: they must pledge never to join a union. So, we thought, what better way to celebrate Labor Day than by discussing why unions make labor better and fairer for everyone? As the President of NWLC United, our organization’s union, I am ready to honor those brave railroad workers by providing you all with some context on why collective bargaining is essential for labor justice and gender justice:

Unions help close the wage gap: Women working full time who are union members typically make $214 more per week than women who are not union members, which equals $11,128 more a year. Over a 40-year career, that amounts to $445,120. And while the gender wage gap persists even when women are unionized, women in unions are consistently paid wages that are not just higher than their non-unionized counterparts but also more equal to men’s wages.

Unions are essential in the fight for reproductive rights: Unions fight every day for workers to have autonomy over their lives—from gaining more control over work schedules to accessing a living wage—and an essential aspect of that is being able to make your own decisions about whether, when, and how you want to parent. Denied abortions and forced births can limit someone’s ability to advance in the workplace, expose them to pregnancy discrimination at work, and force them to face all the financial burdens and health risks that come with labor and delivery—not to mention the impact of raising a child without the financial resources to do so. Even before the Dobbs decision wrongfully overturning Roe v. Wade, many workers, particularly those in low-paid jobs, found it incredibly difficult to access abortion care because of workplace practices such as unpredictable work schedules, low wages, lack of paid leave, and lack of health insurance. After Dobbs, many unions are taking up the fight to protect and fund workers' ability to travel for abortions since restrictions or outright bans in some states now require travel across state lines, which may require time off from work and cost a lot of money.

Unions address racial justice: Unions are crucial for women of color—particularly Black women—whose paid and unpaid labor built our economy. Management typically skews white and male, meaning historically women of color have been locked out of decision-making. Unions offer the opportunity to take some power back and make meaningful improvements to workplace culture, pay, and benefits that may otherwise never be addressed. Among full-time workers, unionized Black women typically make 19% more per week ($157 more) than Black women non-union workers. And unionized Latinas typically make 36% more per week ($268 more). That’s $13,936 more per year, amounting to $557,440 over a 40-year career.

Unions have helped remedy the child care crisis: There is no workforce and no labor without child care workers—parents and caregivers can’t do their jobs without accessing child care. Child care workers are some of the most underpaid and undervalued in the labor force, yet both the federal and many state governments have denied them adequate funding. Unions give care workers bargaining power so that they can negotiate for the higher salaries and benefits they deserve. For example, Child Care Providers United in California just secured a 20% average pay increase, the nation’s first retirement fund for child care providers, and a significant investment in health care funding.

NWLC United is proud to have signed our first collective bargaining agreement last fall—putting into practice the values NWLC was built on. Our contract is one of the most progressive in the movement, but there is still so much to build on in the future. This Labor Day, I challenge you all to find a way to support unions. Whether that is advocating for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which will help to ensure working women can come together collectively, donating to the Writer’s Guild of America Strike, or becoming an outspoken advocate for unions in your community. 

In solidarity,

Caitlin Panarella
she/her/hers
President, NWLC United
National Women's Law Center