Amazon and Starbucks Votes Show Workers Are Ambivalent About Unions
The brief for organized labor starts with higher wages and a better way to air workplace grievances. The case against them questions the size of these benefits.
For them, unions are worth it.
Photographer: JASON REDMOND/AFPIn the latest news from the labor wars, workers at a Starbucks in Portland, Maine, just voted to unionize, while those at an Amazon warehouse in upstate New York voted not to. Opinions on the value of unions obviously differ, and passions run high. As an economist, I try to assess these kinds of issues rationally. Here is my attempt to explain how I think about unions.
The brief for unions starts with the possibility of higher wages: Union workers enjoy a wage premium of 10% to 20% (although many of these estimates are dated, and globalization may have made the premium much lower, in some cases close to zero). Unions may also give workers a more effective medium for airing their workplace grievances, and may help them coordinate better services with their employers.