How labor unions shape society

0:00The market's uncertain. Revenue's tied and hiring on hold. That's why results-driven companies are using Upwork to keep work moving. Go to Upwork.com today and start hiring proven freelance talent fast. No bulky overhead. No rigid long-term contracts. Just the right expert right when you need them. Work smarter and faster with Upwork. Go to Upwork.com now and find your freelance expert. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com. Post a job for free and get started today. Thank you for calling the Bombas Comfort Line. Bombas make socks, slippers, tees, and underwear made with the highest quality materials. Press 1 for comfort, 2 for style, 3 for donation.

0:40You chose style. Bombas is styles for whatever you enjoy. You can run in Bombas, lounge in Bombas, dress them up, dress them down, but always give back in Bombas. Because with every item purchased, another is donated. Bombas, comfort worth calling for. Go to bombas.com slash audio and use code audio for 20 % off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com and use code audio. A mochi moment from Tara, who writes, For years, all my doctor said was eat less and move more, which never worked. But you know what does? The simple eating tips from my nutritionist at Mochi. And after losing over 30 pounds, I can say you're not just another GLP-1 source.

1:18You're a life source. Thanks, Tara. I'm Myra Amid, founder of Mochi Health. To find your mochi moment, visit joinmochi.com. Tara is a Mochi member compensated for her story.

1:57to just restore our energy and recharge. And without days off, things can get a little scary. That is not a recipe for how to have a thriving society. And it's kind of wild to me to realize that weekends are something that we didn't always have. They were fought for, and they were won as a standard practice because of labor unions. So today, to celebrate Labor Day, to celebrate the fact that we have weekends, we are sharing a TED Talk by Margaret Levy that explores all about why we need labor unions for our jobs, our families, and our economies to thrive. We had Margaret on the show and interviewed her in a previous season, and you can actually check out that interview if you'd like in the show notes.

2:36But today, we wanna share Margaret's TED Talk in this episode of TED Talks Daily. If you're not already familiar, TED Talks Daily is TED's podcast that gives you the latest TED Talks in audio every day. That's the daily part. And it is a space to change your perspectives, ignite your curiosity, and learn something new. So I will be back next week with more episodes of How to Be a Better Human, But for now, enjoy Margaret Levy's thoughts on unions and enjoy this episode of TED Talks Daily.

3:26entire financial picture together in one clean interface. No more juggling multiple apps or digging through different websites just to see where you stand. Monarch is user-friendly and best of all, completely ad-free. Monarch even makes it easy for my husband and I to share information. Monarch is built for busy people who want to stay on top of their finances without the headache. The Wall Street Journal named it the best budgeting app of 2025, and honestly, I can see why. Don't let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use code HUMAN at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year.

4:01That's 50 % off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code HUMAN.

4:25contracts. Just the right expert, right when you need them. Work smarter and faster with Upwork. Go to Upwork.com now and find your freelance expert. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com. Post a job for free and get started today. A Mochi moment from Sadie, who writes, I'm not crying, you're crying. This is what I said during my first appointment with my physician at Mochi, because I didn't have to convince him I needed a GLP-1. He understood, and I felt supported, not judged. I came for the weight loss and stayed for the empathy. Thanks, Sadie. I'm Myra Ameth, founder of Mochi Health. To find your Mochi moment, visit joinmochi.com.

5:07Sadie is a Mochi member compensated for her story.

5:16I'm Elise Hu. You're listening to TED Talks Daily. If you enjoy the weekends or a workday that lasts no longer than eight hours, in the U.S., we have labor unions to thank for that. But political scientist Margaret Levi says it's time to reimagine unions for the modern work world. In her 2021 talk from TEDx Seattle, she shares the possibilities and the potential.

5:44The market's uncertain. Revenue's tight and hiring on hold. That's why results-driven companies are using Upwork to keep work moving. Go to Upwork.com today and start hiring proven freelance talent fast. No bulky overhead. No rigid long-term contracts. Just the right expert right when you need them. Work smarter and faster with Upwork. Go to Upwork.com now and find your freelance expert. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com. Post a job for free and get started today. I'm no tech genius, but I knew if I wanted my business to crush it, I needed a website now. Thankfully, Bluehost made it easy. I customized, optimized, and monetized everything exactly how I wanted with AI.

6:27In minutes, my site was up. I couldn't believe it. The search engine tools even helped me get more site visitors. Whatever your passion project is, you can set it up with Bluehost. With their 30-day money-back guarantee, what have you got to lose? Head to bluehost.com to start now. Thank you for calling the Bombas Comfort Line. Bombas make socks, slippers, tees, and underwear made with the highest quality materials. Press one for comfort, two for style, three for donation. You chose style. Bombas is styles for whatever you enjoy. You can run in Bombas, lounge in Bombas, dress them up, dress them down, but always give back in Bombas because with every item purchased, another is donated.

7:04Bombas, comfort worth calling for. Go to bombas.com slash audio and use code audio for 20 % off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S.com and use code audio.

7:16Leonardo Silva Reviewer

7:34It's easy to imagine a world without labor unions. We're essentially living in that world now, and we are worse off as a result. Few of you probably belong to unions, but almost all of you benefit from them. It was unions that brought us the weekend. More importantly, unions built the middle class by ensuring that workers had the incomes to support families to buy homes and cars and to dream that their children could do better than they could. It was union power and advocacy that helped us win Social Security and health insurance, upon which almost all of us depend. In the 1950s, 33 % of private sector workers belonged to unions.

8:32Big labor stood proudly beside big business and big government. No more. Today, only 6 % of private sector workers are members of unions. With their decline in numbers came a decline in political and economic power, and the result? A significant increase in inequality, a significant deterioration in the possibility of a middle-class lifestyle for this generation or the next, and a receding chance to own a home or afford retirement. We need unions to regain the power so that we can regain what we have lost, build a better future, and help forge democracies that are built on a decent social contract between citizens and government and among citizens themselves.

9:42Yes, we need unions today as much as ever. As a professor of political science and someone who has studied labor unions for a long time, I can tell you that one of the most important things that unions do is to counterbalance the power of corporations. than even the playing field. Yes, we need unions, but we need better and different unions that are more attuned to the 21st century. Let's picture the world before unions. Small children toiling all day and even into the night in noisy, polluted factories. Or immigrant women workers jumping from a burning sweatshop because the fire escapes were locked so that they could not take breaks.

10:48That was New York City in 1911. That's Bangladesh now.

10:57But unions changed that. by winning protections for workers. They transformed lives. They enabled even the worst off to achieve the American dream. Consider the longshore workers, those who load and unload ships. In the 1930s, they were destitute homeless men who lived on the beach. They were wharf rats. In the morning, the boss came and yelled, all along the shore, thus the name Longshore. They pleaded for the scarce jobs, just as migrant day laborers do today at places like Lowe's and Home Depot. It was humiliating, degrading. But when the unions won the right to organize and won contracts, the wharf rats became lords of the dock.

11:56They became middle class. They could marry. They could support families. They could send their children to college. They had health insurance and benefits. They had dignity, respect. They were full American citizens. Unions enabled others to attain the American dream by raising wages generally and by reducing wage disparities between men and women and among the races.

12:27My research has shown me that with every transformation in the economy, the technology, the way we work, there has been an evolution in the labor movement. Craft unions, think construction work or even beer making, emerged from medieval guilds. With the rise of industry, auto steel, new forms of organization emerged. When white-collar workers in offices, in government, in health care, in professions, began to want voice and representation, yet another kind of union developed. In my mind, in my ears, is Dolly Parton singing 9-2-5. inspired by a real-life union of that name. When you hear that song, thanks the unions for a decent working day.

13:32History shows that unions helped people get dignity, rise out of poverty, inhibit workplace dangers and harassment, and improve health and well-being of us all. These are not yesterday's problems. Workers of today still need and want unions. An MIT survey in 2021 revealed that 50 % of the non-union workforce would join a union if given a chance. So, Margaret, if unions are so great, why are they in such serious decline? because the odds are stacked against them. Many of you have read about the Amazon warehouse workers who failed to win a union representation election in Alabama. They failed because of concerted employer opposition.

14:39Indeed, there are many employers and politicians who are preventing the reform of labor laws passed nearly a century ago in another era and another economy. These are laws that inhibit agriculture and domestic workers from organizing largely black and brown workers. They make it hard for workers in the gig economy to organize, those we call forth with our apps, rideshare, delivery service, specialized tasks. There are employers and politicians who are pushing states to pass right-to-work laws, laws that abolish the requirement that those who are covered by union contracts have to pay union dues.

15:34This effectively kills the unions. Now, many workers in 27 states do not have to pay for the benefits the unions provide for them. States that include Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin, former union strongholds. And society loses big. A recent study revealed that in right-to-work law states, there is slower economic growth, higher consumer debt, lower wages, worse health outcomes, and lower civic participation than in states without such laws on the books. But it's not just employers and politicians that are holding unions back. Unions are cause of some of their own problems. Some unions are extremely bureaucratic, stifling debate and innovation.

16:39Some union leaders are corrupt, rigging elections, paying themselves humongous salaries, even when they represent very low-income workers, and some commit felonies. Jimmy Hoffa is the notorious example of a labor leader who went to prison. But just this year, several high-ranking officials in the United Auto Workers were sentenced for embezzlement. Now, many critics, possibly some of you, blame unions for inflation. When wages go up, consumer prices go up. True enough. But so does the standard of living for workers. If we paid one to two cents more per apple, apple pickers and packers would have decent wages, decent housing, and some protection from pesticides.

17:42And we, as taxpayers, benefit from higher standards of living by workers. The pandemic gave us the term essential workers. If those in grocery, warehousing, food processing, delivery had strong unions, indeed any unions at all, there would have been no need for federal programs for those who have jobs to feed their families and prevent evictions. Now, there are many reasons for union decline, including structural ones, the decline in union jobs and manufacturing. But a major reason is public lack of awareness, even misinformation, about the value of unions. Well before President Reagan fired the striking air controllers in 1981, there has been concerted and continuous opposition by employers and politicians to undermine unions.

18:48Employers no longer suppress unions by hiring private armies like U.S. Steel, Ford, and the coal companies did. Now they hire very high-priced consulting firms to do that work. elected officials may no longer call out the police and the National Guard to cart labor organizers off to jail now they pass legislation that restricts union organizing and power but workers are beginning to fight back as the headlines reveal they are building solidarity across racial, ethnic, religious, partisan divides Martin Luther King exhorted us to enwrap ourselves in a single garment of destiny. I have observed several unions that I've studied build expanded and inclusive communities of fate in which large numbers of others recognize that their destinies are entwined despite differences and distances.

19:59This doesn't always happen. but it can and it must. If you took my class or gave me another hour, I could give you numerous examples.

20:15We need as employees and citizens to build solidarity through communities of faith that crosses geographies and differences. But to do that, we need to reimagine labor unions for now. The labor movement must evolve as it has in the past, even producing possibly alt-unions, alternatives to unions, alternatives to traditional unions. Workers in gig, professions, tech, don't necessarily want a traditional union, but they do want influence over their wages, working conditions, and even the policies of their companies. And they are reimagining old approaches and coming up with new ones in order to build worker voice and power.

21:12Some are reconfiguring worker cooperatives, employee-owned businesses, in which the workers determine wages, working conditions, and distribution of profits. This is not a pipe dream. Second, Mondragon in Spain has over 80 ,000 employee owners, takes in over$13 billion a year, and redistributes its profits to build worker skills and capacities among its member cooperatives. A newer approach is to use platform technologies to teach workers their rights. In our global, hyper-connected, and socially isolating world, platforms such as coworker.org or UNIT recognize and address the fact that there is a mobile workforce that no longer has water coolers or lunchrooms around which to gather and strategize.

22:16These platforms provide workers with a way to share experiences, access organizing resources, and build networks at scale across geographies and employers. Coworker.org had a huge win with Alphabet, the parent company of Google, a giant among tech firms. alphabet workers recognize that they are part of a community of faith that crosses large distances. They have been protesting Google's contracts with the Pentagon and with immigration authorities. They have normal run-of-the-mill economic union demands, but they also have the political demand that they should have a say over company policies that affect them and us.

23:15Now, whatever you thought of unions in the past, I hope that these examples have revealed to you what they can be today and for tomorrow. Unions once significantly reduced income inequality, the gap between the rich and the poor. They can again. These graph lines came together when unions rose. I'd like to see those lines permanently converge and inequality reduced once and for all. Billionaires are building rockets to explore outer space. This is so exciting. But equally exciting are the workers who are providing the goods and services on which those billionaires we all depend, exploring new ways to gain power and voice.

24:16If even some of these explorations succeed, workers will gain dignity, economic security, and the power to challenge employers and politicians. The result? The resuscitation of the middle class and a far more equitable society. Thank you. Thank you.