EPI is highlighting stories of working people to emphasize the unequal power relationship in the U.S. economy.

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Bruce Miller spent nearly 40 years repairing cars for Sears in Toms River, N.J., but was forced to go from an hourly employee with good pay and benefits to a commission-based wage after a hedge fund took over the iconic retailer.

"I lost my American dream—my income, my house, and my medical insurance—while Eddie Lampert and his hedge fund walked away with millions,” Bruce Miller wrote, referring to the hedge fund chieftain who oversaw the takeover—and the demise of Sears.
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The problem of unequal power in the workplace is not theoretical. It affects real people, in serious ways. EPI's "Worker Stories" series sheds a light on a workplace reality: Workers have little bargaining power.

The personal stories we’ve compiled—with more to come in the months ahead—show how many workers can’t simply leave a job for a host of reasons: reliance on employer-sponsored health insurance, financial circumstances, and fear that they won’t find another job. Instead, they are forced to deal with an unequal power relationship with their employer.

EPI is fighting every day to strengthen the rights of working people. Make a year-end donation today to fund our critical research to end the imbalance of bargaining power in the workplace and demand workplace equality. ([link removed])

There is a pervasive assumption in economics, political science, law, and philosophy that this is a relationship of equal power. This wrong assumption diminishes our freedoms in and out of the workplace and undermines our legal protections in the workplace. It generates wage stagnation and inequality. And it undercuts civic engagement and representative democracy.

The simple fact is: There is an inherent imbalance of bargaining power between employers and employees.

EPI's Unequal Power project ([link removed]) is dedicated to the memory of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who recognized the inherent asymmetry between workers and their employers.

"For workers striving to gain from their employers decent terms and conditions of employment, there is strength in numbers."
—Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dissent in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis

With the Unequal Power project, EPI is bringing together new research across disciplines arguing that economic policy, employment law, philosophy, and political science need to return to the fundamental understanding of today’s workplace reality of unequal bargaining power.

The takeover of Sears by ESL Investments—and the focus by such funds to maximize shareholder profits above all else—is a clear case of why workers like Bruce Miller have unequal power in the workplace. Simply put, the hedge fund owner-operators of Sears held all the bargaining cards.

Through Unequal Power, EPI is shining a spotlight on this imbalance of power, fighting for the rights and wages of working people. Please consider a year-end donation today to power EPI’s critical research to lift up working people throughout our country. ([link removed])

Together, we need to shatter the assumption of equal power because it creates a lack of freedom in the workplace; undercuts employee rights and protections; undercuts civic engagement and representative democracy and overlooks issues of workplace governance; generates wage and income inequality and wage stagnation; and perpetuates systemic race and gender discrimination.

Thank you for all you do to fight for an economy that works for all of us, not just the wealthy few.

Eve Tahmincioglu
Director of Communications, Economic Policy Institute
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