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1 Center for American Progress Action Fund | Unions Make Democracy Work for the Middle Class
Unions Make Democracy Work for the Middle Class
Organized Labor Helps Ordinary Citizens Participate More and Have a Greater Say
By David Madland and Nick Bunker January 2012
On Friday he Deparmen o Labor will release daa on he union saus o he American  workorce. Unorunaely he daa are likely o show a decline in he percenage o workers  who are unionized because o he one-wo punch o long-erm rends󲀔such as he escala-ion o aggressive employer campaigns agains union represenaion󲀔and poliical atacks such as Wisconsin’s new law banning public-secor collecive bargaining. Even hough less han 12 percen o all workers are currenly union members,  Americans󲀔wheher unionized or no󲀔should care abou his decline because unions give workers a bigger say in our economy and our poliical sysem.
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 Ta helps he middle class, and i’s good or democracy. As our research and a number o academic sudies find,
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 unions srenghen he middle class and significanly reduce economic inequaliy. In ac sudies indicae ha he decline in union densiy explains as much o oday’s record level o inequaliy as does he increasing economic reurn o a college educaion.
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Mos research on he imporance o unions o he middle class ends o ocus on how unions improve marke wages or boh union and nonunion workers.
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 Tis research is no doub vial, bu i gives shor shrif o he criical role unions play in making democ-racy work or he middle class.Unions help boos poliical paricipaion among ordinary ciizens󲀔especially among members, bu also among nonunion members󲀔and conver his paricipaion ino an effecive voice or pro-middle-class policies.Tis explains why saes wih a greaer percenage o union members have significanly higher voer urnou raes, as well as higher minimum wages, a greaer percenage o residens covered by healh insurance, sronger social saey nes, and a more progressive ax code, as chars in his brie will illusrae.
 
Ta unions are imporan o he srengh o he middle class is easy o see by looking a he close relaionship beween he wo over ime. In 1968 he share o income going o he naion’s middle class was 53.2 percen,  when 28 percen o all work-ers were members o unions. Since hen, union membership seadily declined alongside he share o income going o he middle class. By 2010 he middle class only received 46.5 percen o income as union membership dropped o less han 12 percen o workers. (see graph a righ)Te middle class weakened over he pas several decades because he rich secured he lion’s share o he economy’s gains. Te share o preax income earned by he riches 1 percen o Americans more han doubled beween 1974 and 2007, climbing o 18 percen rom 8 percen. And or he riches o he rich󲀔he op 0.1 percen󲀔he gains have been even more asronomical󲀔quadrupling over his period,
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 rising o 12.3 per-cen o all income rom 2.7 percen.Even hough unions weakened, hey are sill criically imporan o he middle class: Te saes wih he lowes percenage o workers in unions󲀔Norh Carolina, Georgia,  Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Souh Carolina, ennessee, Virginia, Oklahoma, and exas󲀔all have relaively weak middle classes. In each o hese saes, he share o income going o he middle class (he middle 60 percen o he populaion by income) is below he naional average, according o Census Bureau figures.
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Tis issue brie digs deeper ino hese findings by highlighing he criical role ha unions play in making he poliical sysem work or he middle class. Tey do his in wo key ways: increasing voer paricipaion and advocaing or policies ha help he middle class. As an increasing number o ciizens eel heir democracy is no longer responsive o heir needs, he role unions play is ever more imporan.
FIGURE 1
As union membership rates decrease, middle class incomes shrink 
2 Center for American Progress Action Fund | Unions Make Democracy Work for the Middle Class
 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 ‘67 ‘69 ‘71 ‘73 ‘75 ‘77 ‘79 ‘81 ‘83 ‘85 ‘87 ‘89 ‘91 ‘93 ‘95 ‘97 ‘99 ‘01 ‘03 ‘05 ‘07 ‘09
Middle class share of aggregate income Union membership rate Union Membership Rate Middle class share of aggregate income
 
Original figure by David Madland, Karla Walter, and Nick Bunker. Sources: Union Membership Rate is from Barry T. Hirsch, David A. Macpherson, and Wayne G. Vroman, “Estimates of Union Density by State,” Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 124, No.7, July 2001. Middle Class Share of Aggregate Income is from United States Census Bureau.
 
3 Center for American Progress Action Fund | Unions Make Democracy Work for the Middle Class
Helping get the vote out
Unions help ge ordinary ciizens󲀔union and nonunion alike󲀔involved in poliics by, or example, knocking on doors, educaing workers on he issues, and helping hem eel heir effors will make a difference.Case in poin: A 1 percenage poin increase in union densiy in a sae increases voer urnou raes by 0.2 o 0.25 percenage poins according o analysis by Benjamin Radcliff and Paricia Davis, poliical scieniss a he Universiy o Nore Dame and he Sae Deparmen, respecively.
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 In oher words, i unionizaion were 10 percenage poins higher during he 2008 presidenial elecion, 2.6 million o 3.2 million more Americans would have voed.Similarly, research by Roland Zullo, a labor sudies proessor a he Universiy o Michigan, shows ha sel-described working-class ciizens󲀔wheher unionized or no󲀔are jus as likely o voe as oher ciizens are when unions run campaigns in heir congressional disric.
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 Ye when unions don’ run campaigns, working-class ciizens are 10.4 percen less likely o voe han oher ciizens. A similar patern holds or communiies o color. Voers o color are  jus as likely o voe as whie voers in disrics wih union campaigns  bu are 9.3 percen less likely o voe in disrics wihou campaigns. Figure 2 below shows ha saes wih higher levels o unionizaion have higher levels o voer urnou by highlighing he relaionship or all ederal elecions rom 1980 o 2010. Tis relaionship would also hold i we were o look a only presidenial elecions or only miderm elecions. Oher acors conribue o voer urnou, bu unionizaion cerainly plays an imporan role in geting he voe ou.Unions play a criical role in geting ordinary ciizens involved. Te Unied Saes has one o he lowes voer urnou raes in he indusri-alized world, an average o 56.9 percen, and one o he lowes raes o union membership, an average o 12.1 percen in he 2000s, as Figure 3 shows below. I union membership coninues o decline, he qualiy o our democracy will as well.Beore people ake poliical acion, hey mus hink i is worhwhile󲀔ha he ben-efis are greaer han he coss. Bu he coss o acion󲀔ime, money, and energy󲀔are someimes higher han he  benefis o acion.
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 Tis is especially rue wih acions such as  wriing a leter o a member o Congress or racking he progress o a bill, bu i can hold
FIGURE 2
Voter turnout is higher in states withgreater levels of unionization
 
Top 10 states byunion density
 
010%20%30%40%50%60%58.9%42.1%Bottom 10 states by union density
Sources: Unionstats.com, United States Elections Project (Both are averages of 1980-2010. Elections are all federal elections during the period.)
FIGURE 3
Countries with higher unionizationrates have higher voter turnout
 
020%40%60%80%Top 10 countries by unionizationBottom 10 countries by unionization77.9%61.8%
Sources: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. (Both data sets are average of data from 2000 to 2010. Outliers in terms of income level have been removed, but trend would be similar regardless.)

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