Labor Unions: A Featured Controversy from Issues & Controversies

Labor Unions: A Featured Controversy from Issues & Controversies

May 1, 2023
Union organizer Christian Smalls celebrates after workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, vote to unionize on April 1, 2022. [ANDREA RENAULT/AFP via Getty Images]

An International Workers’ Day Spotlight from Issues & Controversies:
LABOR UNIONS: Do Labor Unions Benefit American Workers and the U.S. Economy?

Do labor unions help the U.S. economy and American workers? Be sure to check out Issues & Controversies’ complete and unbiased coverage of this important issue. Here is a sample of the pro/con arguments on both sides of the issue.

Try Issues & Controversies today!

SUPPORTERS ARGUE OPPONENTS ARGUE
The American middle class and high standard of living would not exist without labor unions. As union membership has declined, working-class Americans have faced stagnating wages, job insecurity, and dwindling benefits even as corporations turn record profits. Only by reclaiming the power of collective bargaining can workers reverse undignified working conditions and the damaging rise in income inequality. Unionization is obsolete in the era of globalized commerce. Unions are corrupt special interests that demand outsized benefits, distorting the free market and hurting workers and American economic competitiveness. In the modern economy, employees are better off exercising their freedom as individuals than paying dues to labor cartels that will only stunt their earning potential.

The pro/con article links to rich related resources that enhance the debate. Students and researchers can explore the “By the Numbers” data, primary sources that provide context, court cases, debate videos, NPR podcasts, infographics, editorials, a Reuters® newsfeed, a chronology, and a bibliography and further resources. Plus, discussion questions are provided to inspire critical thinking and analysis.

What Is the Issues & Controversies Database?

The award-winning Issues & Controversies helps researchers understand today’s crucial issues by exploring hundreds of hot topics in politics, government, business, society, education, and popular culture. Updated weekly, with an extensive backfile, Issues & Controversies offers in-depth articles—each presenting both sides of an issue clearly, coherently, and without bias—made to inspire thought-provoking debates. Its straightforward presentation of the key facts, arguments, history, and current context of today’s most important and timely issues makes the database an ideal resource for research papers, debate preparation, and persuasive writing assignments.

Click here for more information about Issues & Controversies.

See also:

About The Author

Infobase is an educational solutions provider facilitating the connection between content, people, and the learning experiences that empower all users to evolve personally and professionally throughout their lives. Enabled by such well-known brands as Facts On File, Learn360, Credo, The Mailbox®, Films Media Group, Bloom’s, Ferguson’s, Omnigraphics, CareerEco, and Vault, Infobase provides students, educators, librarians, parents, and professionals with a broad range of solutions they need to inspire, enable, and inform lifelong learners.

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

You’ll get timely information, news, product offers and updates, access to resources, and more. All delivered straight to your inbox.

By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive Infobase newsletter emails. You can revoke your consent to receive emails by using the unsubscribe link found at the bottom of every email.