Unions make us strong

According to a Feb. 18, 2026, news release from the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor statistics entitled “Union Members-2025”, a mere 11.2% of employed Americans were represented by labor unions in 2025. The power of collective bargaining that is made possible by union membership leads to higher compensation for labor, and in 2025, the average union member was making $1,404 a week, compared to the average non-union wage of $1,174.   

According to a 2016 article entitled “The Role of Labor Unions in Creating Working Conditions That Promote Public Health,” which can be found on the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Library of Medicine: National Center for Biotechnology Information website, labor unions and their subsequentbenefits to the workers they represent helps improve public health. When workers have access to high-quality healthcare benefits,something that labor movements have fought for years, they are able to access things like preventative care and mental healthcare, which makes them healthier members of society. 

According to the NIH article, “retirement or pension plans create the financial stability to promote health into old age,” and employees who are union members are more likely to have a retirement or pension plan than those who are not members of a union. Society must make sure the health of our elders is protected into their old age, and labor unions are an effective way to ensure this.  

Although many readers of this article may not be able to join a union, it is still important to understand the benefits of labor unions and to support politicians who support them. To quote the lyrics of Pete Seegerwho is famous for his rendition of “This Land is Your Land,” in the famous pro-union song “Solidarity Forever,” “without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn/ we can break their haughty power/ gain our freedom when we learn, that the union makes us strong.” 

Reader, without the brain and muscle of people like you, the wheels of society would not turn. If there is a union available for you to join, join it- through the power of collective bargaining you can advocate for appropriate compensation for your labor, access to healthcare and other business and good working conditions. The union makes us strong.