Unions are the obvious easy fix [1]. Give the workers some real bargaining power and ability to stand up for themselves.
https://www.epi.org/news/union-membership-declines-inequalit...
BTW, I've seen enough handwaving and half-truths about unions peddled by those trying to further degrade them I've stopped seeing arguments against unions as being in good faith.
This is not an argument for or against unions. As I mentioned, it’s likely in your personal interest to unionize if you can.
The second unfolding union-bribery corruption scandal involves the former head of Volkswagen’s (VW) works council Klaus Volkert, a member of the IG Metall. (VW is Europe’s largest automobile manufacturer.) The former director of the VW labor relations department, Peter Hartz, admitted this past January to employing illegal spending accounts for prostitution and luxury trips to Brazil in which Volkert was a principal recipient of the payments. Documents show that Albert Schunk, an IG Metall member of the joint VW-IG Metall labor-management committee and responsible for international relationships for the union, also benefited from the illegal spending account for his trip to Brazil, including monies used for prostitutes. Keep in mind that Hartz was the architect of a set of neo-liberal reforms in Germany which reduced unemployment insurance for German workers. The reform is called Hartz IV and was enacted last year by the SPD-Green government.
Robert Fitch, who was interviewed by Michael Yates in Monthly Review, minimized the first VW corruption scandal as a kind of anomaly within the European labor movement. But such scandals are hardly new: former head of the IG Metall Klaus Zwickel resigned his post in 2003 in the midst of a criminal proceeding lodged against him. His unsavory role on the Board of Directors of the Mannesmann corporation in which departing executives were paid severance payments totaling 57 Million Euros was the source of great media attention, largely because the case involved the most devastating white-collar economic criminal case in the history of Germany. Zwickel agreed to pay a 60,000 Euro settlement and is, according to German law, free of criminal guilt. The timing of Zwickel’s resignation in 2003 coincided with the IG Metall’s first strike defeat in over 50 years.
Fitch moreover maintained that there is “no comparison between European and American corruption. No one has ever charged a European union with being a criminal enterprise.” The recent collapse of the union-controlled bank BAWAG (Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft) in Austria, however, would certainly qualify as an example of fundamental union corruption comparable to or surpassing American labor corruption. One German commentator described the scandal as “the downfall of the Austrian worker’s movement.” The BAWAG, the fourth largest bank in Austria, engaged in speculative business dealings in the Caribbean, which resulted in the loss of approximately 1 billion Euros. The Austrian Labor Federation (ÖGB) oversaw the bank, and the running shopping list of inept and criminal activities of the ÖGB could be attributed to a union leadership who were more interested in a wannabe-capitalist banker lifestyle rather than protecting the assets of ordinary rank-and-file members. The ÖGB turned the BAWAG into a criminal enterprise. The illegal practices of the BAWAG have resulted in the loss of the strike fund, an education fund for the children of union members, and an emergency assistance program for members who are experiencing a financial crisis. Union expenditures in Europe are not as transparent as in the United States. Consequently, union corruption in Germany is simply better disguised and therefore unregistered by many American labor journalists and commentators.
https://mronline.org/2007/02/21/where-is-the-german-trade-un...
In 2007, an attempt of a company to influence unions became publicly known that had been unprecedented in the history of German unions.
Already in the late 1970s, the Siemens AG made arrangements to weaken the impact of the DGB. The first goal was to reduce the power of the DGB in the board of directors. The essential execution of this plan started in the 1980s. The Association of Independent Employees (German: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Unabhängiger Betriebsangehöriger, AUB) was founded. As "the other union", the AUB positions itself today deliberately against "traditional unions". Although the AUB has only about 32,000 members, the AUB chairman Schelsky said in 2003: "In ten years, we will be the only competitor in Germany to the DGB." And then his organization was supposed to have stronger political power. After it became public that Siemens had made payments of about 14 million euro to Wilhelm Schelsky, a business consultant and AUB chairman, the offices of Schelsky, Siemens and the AUB were searched by police. On February 14, 2007, Schelsy was arrested on suspicion of offenses in connection with taxes. The payments from Siemens to Schelsky are now estimated to be about 54 million euros. However, direct payments from Siemens to the AUB could not be proven.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_unions_in_Germany#Weaken...
Trade Union Congress (TUC) puts real wage growth in germany at 0.9%, and real wage growth in the USA at 1.2%
Source: https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/national/uk-be-bottom-wage-growt...
Does that take into account all wage earners? The lower 40% of the country has seen -2.4% real wage growth since the 70's, and the 40%-60% have only seen an increase of 0.5%. These numbers can be severely offset by including all salary ranges, the higher levels of course having actual wage growth but the lower 60% haven't seen anything.
https://www.businessinsider.com/record-median-household-inco...
Enough, it's so misleading and mathematically illiterate it's frustrating especially because it comes from people who pretend they are "data driven."
> One possible reason is that employers are growing increasingly powerful.
For at least half of the 20th century, unions had out of control corruption and cronyism. The biggest unions (Teamsters, etc) were totally controlled by organized crime.
Unions solve a few problems but introduce many others. Unions are also subject to the Shirky Principle[1]
If you are proposing a superior solution, you are supposed to show it is superior. If it is neutral, you should also show it actually is neutral and not inferior.
I'd say that unions provide a controllable and governance alternative to employer wild west. If they are corrupt and crony, this is seen and can be fixed. Markets are not as easily controllable, even with laws.
I am cautiously optimistic that unions can be a net good, but I'm also worried there aren't enough checks to balance them.
I've seen good union leaders, but most of them were corrupt and actively harmed the workers they purported to defend (when they weren't embezzling - and Argentina is even worse).
Those people who have skills worth money like to negociate.
The great thing about that is everone can better themselves and be worth more.
What makes you say that?
According to the first report I found via Google [1], workers who earn minimum wage make up about 2.3% of the labor force. Wouldn't that imply that almost all employees have at least some bargaining power?
Note: the report seems to only talk about workers paid hourly, I assume the statistic is no worse for full-time employees.
[1]: https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2017/home.htm
So yes, if you can go to your boss and demonstrate your value to your organization and your value above and beyond any replacement they can find, then you shouldn't need a union. But if that's not the case and your work is in any way fungible, then a union can definitely help tip the balance of power between employees and businesses that try to hoard all the profits for the owners.