Want To Be Happy? Join A Union!

It is well documented that unions bring direct and indirect benefits for its members and the
community at large.  Union members earn better wages, have better benefits and have safer working conditions.  Communities that enjoy a union presence tend to have less poverty and better education systems.

A recent study shows yet another benefit from belonging to a union - higher life satisfaction.

From the New York Times:

But a recent study may give some workers reason to reconsider. For those who belong to a union, membership seems to bring a benefit that perhaps surpasses better wages or generous health insurance: higher life satisfaction.

The study authors, Patrick Flavin, an assistant professor at Baylor University, and Gregory Shufeldt, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, used data from five different years between the early 1980s and mid-2000s, conducted in the United States, of the World Values Survey, a research project focusing on people’s beliefs. As they write in the report, they found that “union members are more satisfied with their lives than those who are not members and that the substantive effect of union membership on life satisfaction is large and rivals other common predictors of quality of life.”

[...]

Yet as Mr. Flavin and Mr. Shufeldt told Op-Talk in an email: “Labor union membership still has benefits, and that this is true for all union members. Simply put, if one goal of labor unions is to boost the quality of life for their members, our study provides empirical evidence that they are succeeding.”

In their study, they tease out four “pathways” by which being a union member might improve quality of life compared with not being a member: “These include having greater satisfaction with one’s experiences while working, feeling greater job security, being afforded numerous opportunities for social interaction and integration, and enhancing the participatory benefits associated with more engaged democratic citizenship.”

That last part needs to be emphasized: "enhancing the participatory benefits associated with more engaged democratic citizenship.”

The corporate special interests are not spending hundreds of millions of dollars to destroy unions just because of a few bucks but also for control of our government so that they can further their agenda of a plantation economy. As Thomas Donahue said: "The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labor."

AFSCME has quickly jumped on the good news and is spreading the word.  Along with that, they created this fun little video:



So when Scott Walker, Chris Abele and the other right wingers attack unions, you need to ask yourself why they want to take away your money, your benefits and your happiness.