What to do with unions?

The growth of the part-time and casual workforce, insecure work, all made it tougher for people to join unions.

An article in Quartz noted that in 2018, just 10.5% of American workers were in unions. That is the lowest it has been since the 1980's, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began collecting those numbers.

It may be that union membership was never that popular. The article notes that union rates during the golden age for unions, the 1940's and 1950's, in America, may have only been close to 30% of the workforce.

The public sector, however, like in Australia has higher numbers.

Why the decline in private sector union membership in America? The same reasons given for the decline in Australia.

The article notes it is partly because jobs that tend to have lower union numbers like healthcare and hospitality are growing in numbers. Whereas the manufacturing sector, that tended to have higher union membership numbers has declined.

The Quartz article also notes that the "right-to-work" legislation in America was another reason. Employees cannot be forced to join a union, so many do not.

In Australia, compulsory unionism was made illegal.

The concern is that the reduction in unionism is one of the reasons given for why income inequality in America has increased. The same may hold true for why inequality in Australia exists, partly because of the reduction in unionism.

Unions are not just helping workers in Australia by campaigning for better pay and conditions either. Union Aid Abroad is a charity run by Australian unions, helping to tackle inequality overseas.

Yet, that raises another issue. Are unions a friend of reducing global poverty?

Unions can at times oppose migrant workers coming from poor countries to work here. Demanding jobs for Australians first or only, impacting the ability of migrants to escape poverty.