Many women are the sole breadwinners for their families and may be the hardest hit by the downturn in our economy. During this holiday season, mothers are pondering how they will be able to purchase gifts for their children, pay their home heating costs or scrape together mortgage payments.
Even for two-parent families, the chance for women to increase their household income can make the difference between financial stability and hardship. Fortunately, just-released data from the Center for Economic Policy and Research indicates union membership strengthens the pocketbooks of Maine's female workers struggling to make ends meet.
This should not be surprising for Maine policymakers who have long recognized and supported the two clear pathways for women's economic opportunity: 1) increasing access to education and training to secure good jobs with benefits, and 2) improving wages and job standards. And simply put, the best way to improve wages is through participation in a union.
The new findings from the Center for Economic Policy and Research show, on average nationally, membership in a labor union raised a woman's wages by 11.2 percent, or $2 per hour, compared to nonunion women performing similar jobs. In Maine, this number climbs to 12.2 percent. Moreover, female union members were about 19 percent more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and 25 percent more likely to have a pension than their nonunion counterparts.
Unions provide working women with the opportunity for a middle-class lifestyle through adequate pay and earned benefits such as paid sick days, health coverage and vacation time. But when profit-before-people corporations undermine workers' ability to form unions and bargain for better wages, this opportunity slips away. That's why now is the time for much-needed reforms of our outdated federal labor laws, which largely have remain unchanged since the National Labor Relations Act was passed more than 70 years ago.
Corporate greed and CEO mismanagement have gone too far, and America's women are paying the price. Workers are often retaliated against for their support of a union. In fact, 30 percent of employers faced with a union organizing effort fire workers for their support of a union. For the millions of women who depend on a job to keep themselves and their families afloat, this has to change.
The Employee Free Choice Act will give us the change we need by restoring balance and helping our economy work for everyone again. It will fundamentally make it easier for workers to form unions and have an opportunity for better pay and benefits. The legislation would give workers a fair and direct path to form unions through majority sign-up, a process where employers agree to recognize a union when the majority of employees have demonstrated their desire for one. Since 2003 alone, over half a million workers, including female engineers, nurses and customer service reps, have organized using this process. Furthermore, the Employee Free Choice Act will toughen penalties against unscrupulous employers and will help employees secure a contract within a reasonable period of time.
In essence, unions can make or break the bank for women in this tumultuous economy. The Employee Free Choice Act will allow even more workers to gain the same kind of financial advantages offered through union membership. All we need is for our members of Congress to demonstrate the conviction and compassion necessary to make economic opportunity a reality for Maine women.
Sarah Standiford is executive director of the Maine Women's Lobby.
On 12/12/08 at 9:28 AM,
vichet wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Specious statistics that mean nothing. Those female unions members are more likely to be in the public sector, teachers, healthcare and government employees all funded by a never ending supply of public money... the taxpayer. EFCA will do nothing but put small business into failure and push large businesses overseas. Increase inflation for us all while denying people the right to an open and free election. Workers over the last 30 years have rejected unions and this EFCA is an act of desperation by union bosses to gain their old political clout. If workers want to be organized the mechanism is there. Al they have to do is sign people up and hold an election...They have decided it is better and quicker to sign people up in private with their sign-up being their vote and denying a fair secret ballot election. This anti-democratic bill must be defeated.
On 12/12/08 at 10:08 AM,
David889327 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
100 years or so ago, there were minimal or no labor laws. Unions came into existence to fill the void of protective measures for the welfare of workers. Since then, our Federal and state governments have enacted a considerable body of laws and statutes designed to protect workers rights and secure their interests. What role do unions play now, other than to force up wages and benefits beyond market sustainable levels, at least in the private sector? In the public sector, the market sustainability concept is a little more difficult to define, but still potentially oppressive.
On 12/12/08 at 3:12 PM,
MiloCrabtree wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I can almost hear the cheers from China as they get ready to welcome all the businesses that will leave America if the EFCA is passed. It's all about labor's pull with politicians and the intoxication of elected office. How can we be so darned thick?
On 12/15/08 at 11:44 AM,
vichet wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Please write Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe and tell them you oppose EFCA. It will make a difference.
On 12/15/08 at 12:05 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I will write them to tell them I support it.
On 12/15/08 at 5:59 PM,
Saltoria wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I will cancel your call anne...in good spirit of course because in spite of our differences, I like you!
I would like to think that I get what get because I deserve it, not because a union had to fight for me.
As a teacher, I do not belong to the teacher's union, although I am reminded that whatever I get for salary and benefits is because of someone negotiating on my behalf. I am all in favor of MERIT pay for teachers. The teacher should have a base salary, all the same (of course teachers who have been around longer will have more years that account for a cost of living increase at the rate of inflation). Anything more than that would be based on student performance. If, based on standardized testing, students make more than a years progress, the teacher receives a bonus. Education, like any other service/good, needs to be competitive. Keep the unions out of it!
On 12/15/08 at 8:26 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
You go right ahead, dear. We've got four pro-union voters in this house. I'm happy for you that you feel the "merit" system is fair. Myself, I've never felt teachers get paid what they deserve. Aren't you're glad you have a TIAA-CREF pension?
On 12/16/08 at 9:33 AM,
vichet wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Saltoria, How do like geeting paid the same or perhaps less than the teacher from Bangor High who recently call an ADDH student who was celebrating the fact he got an "A" a moron in front of his classmates. This teacher is still there protected by the union and state laws against revealing any discipline the teacher may have or may not have received. The public as well as the child will never know. Another victory for the Union.
On 12/16/08 at 4:16 PM,
Saltoria wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Anne....how is it NOT fair to be paid according to your performance and production? It sounds like you think people should get paid a lot of money and keep their job just for showing up to work!! That isn't the way you increase quality of goods and services friend!
Post a comment about this story
You must be logged in to post a comment.
click here to log in.
