What Do You Know About Unions?

In the early '80s, about one-fifth of American workers were part of a union. As society has changed, union membership has dropped to only about 10% of workers.

Unions are savvy when it comes to negotiating pay. Unionized workers almost always make more money, sometimes with wages 30% more than their non-unionized counterparts.

The Industrial Revolution paved the way for all sorts of new jobs … as well as new hazards and unfair pay. Unions helped to right the ship.

Unionized work has changed substantially. Now, the public sector (teachers, government jobs) are where you're most likely to see unions fighting for their men and women.

In the public sector, organizations are trying to control budgets by slashing pensions for retired workers. Unions do all that they can to stop this practice.

When negotiations stall, union workers sometimes strike, or stop working. Strikes can force companies to negotiation more favorable terms for union members.

After WWII, soldiers returned home and went back to work. About one-third of all private-industry employees were unionized in that era.

It comes from across the Atlantic. In the 1700s, English sailors stopped working in protest, starting by "striking"(taking down) their ship sails.

The Industrial Revolution was in full swing … and the nation was finally healing. After the Civil War, national unions began to find their stride.

In 1921, West Virginia coal miners began a work dispute that turned into the Battle of Blair Mountain. It escalated into one of the most significant (and violent) labor risings in American history.

The Battle of Blair Mountain was a full-on fight, with tens of thousands of men on each side exchanging bullets. About 100 people died.

By the late 1940s, business gained the upper hand in the Taft–Hartley Act, which created all sorts of new restrictions on labor unions. Union leaders decried it as an infringement on American rights.

Modern unions are all about collective bargaining, in which workers decide which issues to fight for. Issues like higher pay and better benefits are typically keys to collective bargaining.

The AFL-CIO is the biggest national union in the U.S. It was formalized in 1955 and since then has represented its members in all sorts of contentious issues.

Craft unionism refers to unions that work for just one specific trade. It may support only coal workers, carpenters, electricians and so on.

Labor unions are organized groups that represent workers. They often serve as a useful counterbalance to corporate power.

In the 1880s, various communities began celebrating the labor movement (and unions) with Labor Day. It's now celebrated in the first weekend of September, and marks the "official" end of summertime fun.

The National Labor Relations Act regulates public sector unions, giving workers the power to band together -- and if necessary -- conduct strikes.

The National Labor Relations Act? Yeah, it didn't go over well. It was derided as un-American … and in some cases, called a tool of socialist manipulators.

President Theodore Roosevelt saw a terrible problem looming in the Great Anthracite Coal Strike. He tried to smooth things over, but it didn't work. J.P. Morgan, a weathy industrialist, finally helped fashion a bargain.

Unions fight for their workers to receive health insurance, and about 80% of them have it. Less than half of non-union workers, on the other hand, receive health benefits.

Unions don't receive universal acclaim in the U.S. anymore. But even so, a solid majority of citizens feel that unions are important and necessary in our capitalist economy.

That year members of Congress got 40% pay increases; USPS workers got 4%. All hell broke loose, and after a short strike the workers got a much-needed boost in pay.

In many places, companies are doing away with pensions altogether. Union members are 60% more likely to have penisons footed by their former employers.

The Pullman Strike saw train manufacturing workers walk out on the job. Hundreds of thousands of workers protested, but federal troops were called in to put an end to the unrest.

Unions hit their peak in the '50s. But even then, only about 35% of workers belonged to one.

In 1968, garbage workers walked off the job … and refuse began piling up on city streets. After a major power struggle, the workers did manage to get a pay bump.

In the U.S., union membership is very low. In Iceland, though, nearly 90% of workers belong to a union, in many cases winning better quality of life for these men and women.

When Pharaoh Ramesses III was late paying his skilled artisans, they went on strike. The royal leader immediately caved to their demands … so that they would continue construction on his elaborate tomb.

In the 1990s, UPS package workers decided to strike. About 185,000 union members picketed for full-time jobs and better benefits … and thanks in part to public support, they won.

The 2011 Wisconsin union strife made headlines for months. "United we bargain, divided we beg" became the union rallying cry.

Unions are a counterbalance to the power that employers wield. With dropping union membership rates, scholars see a rising tide of inequality in America.

Not all strikes succeed. The Textile Workers Strike of 1934 was a terrible mess and won nothing for its workers, who merely returned to the same awful conditions as before.

Nordic countries, like Norway and Sweden, are easily the most heavily unionized nations on the planet. Unions wield immense power in these countries.

The big headlines resulted in a few changes over the years. But given its intensity, the Battle of Blair Mountain actually gave its strikers very few short-term benefits.