Union Jobs Better? Count the Ways.

A new report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) details the difference collective bargaining can make in workers' lives:

• Eighty-eight percent of private-sector union workers have access to retirement benefits through their jobs, compared with only 56 percent of nonunion workers.
• Seventy-three percent of union workers have access to defined-benefit pension plans, compared with 16 percent of nonunion workers.
• Ninety-two percent of union workers have access to job-based health care benefits, compared with 68 percent of nonunion workers.
• Seventy-three percent of union workers have access to job-provided dental care, 57 percent have vision care and 87 percent have prescription drug coverage, compared with 43 percent, 26 percent and 61 percent among nonunion workers, respectively.
• Nonunion workers' required health insurance premiums were over $1,000 more per year than what union workers had to contribute, on average.
• Union workers also are more likely than nonunion workers to have access to job-based life insurance (65 percent vs. 50 percent) and short-term disability benefits (67 percent vs. 37 percent).
• Eighty-seven percent of union members have access to paid holidays and 86 percent had paid vacations, compared with 75 percent and 77 percent of nonunion workers, respectively.
• Fifty-eight percent of union workers are offered education benefits, compared with 48 percent of nonunion workers.

To download the full report, log on to the Voice@Work PrivateNet website at http://privatenet.aflcio.org .