A paycheck is the result of a negotiation, even when it doesn’t feel like one. How much an employer has to offer depends partly on how easily workers can say no, alone or together. One of the largest changes in the American workplace over the last forty years is that far fewer workers negotiate together. In 1983, about 20% of workers belonged to a union. In 2025 it was 10%, and in private companies about 6%.
People disagree about why, and about whether it’s a problem. One view holds that the rules have tilted against organizing: penalties for employers who break labor law are small, and elections can be delayed for years. Proposals from this side would raise penalties and speed up elections; a bill along those lines passed the U.S. House in 2021 but not the Senate. The other view holds that workers should never be required to pay a union as a condition of a job. Twenty-six states have “right-to-work” laws that guarantee this; Michigan repealed its law in 2023, the first state to do so in decades.
Where people land
The case for it: Workers who bargain together earn more and have more say over schedules and safety, and periods of strong unions were periods when pay rose with productivity. Stronger bargaining raises pay without a new government program.
The case against it: Unions can protect poor performers, make companies slower to adapt, and spend dues on politics some members oppose. Workers should be free to decline membership, and higher labor costs can send jobs elsewhere.
There are also approaches that aren’t about unions at all: banning non-compete agreements so workers can change jobs, requiring employers to post pay ranges, or giving employees seats on company boards, as Germany does.
What you can do
If you want to know what you could be earning, pay-range laws in a growing number of states make that information public in job postings; use it. Learn what your state’s rules are on union membership and dues, whichever way you lean. And whether or not you’d ever join a union, federal law protects the right of most private-sector workers to talk about pay with their coworkers.