News: Union members are happier with their lives than nonunion workers, according to a new study. The study, by two university researchers, concludes 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.”
The study was conducted by Patrick Flavin, an assistant professor at Baylor University, and Gregory Shufeldt, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. They say that in the United States, “union membership boosts life satisfaction across demographic groups regardless if someone is rich or poor, male or female, young or old, or has a high or low level of education. These results suggest that organized labor in the United States can have significant implications for the quality of life that citizens experience.”
Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1913, some 10,000 clothing workers struck in Rochester, New York, for the 8-hour day, a 10-percent wage increase, union recognition, and extra pay for overtime and holidays. Daily parades were held throughout the clothing district and there was at least one instance of mounted police charging the crowd of strikers and arresting 25 picketers. Six people were wounded over the course of the strike and one worker, 18-year-old Ida Breiman, was shot to death by a sweatshop contractor. The strike was called off in April after manufacturers agreed not to discriminate against workers for joining a union.
In 1936 in Allegany County, Maryland, workers with the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal era public works program employing unmarried men aged 18-25, were snowbound at Fifteen Mile Creek Camp when they received a distress call about a woman in labor who needed to get to a hospital. 20 courageous CCC volunteers dug through miles of snow drifts until the woman was successfully able to be transported
Today’s labor quote is by Howard Zinn:
“I've always resented the smug statements of politicians, media commentators, corporate executives, who talked of how, in America, if you worked hard, you would become rich. The meaning of that was, if you were poor, it was because you hadn't worked hard enough. I knew this was a lie—about my father, and millions of others: men and women who worked harder than anyone.”
Howard Zinn was a historian, playwright, and social activist. He was a shipyard worker and Air Force bombardier before he went to college under the GI Bill and received his Ph.D. from Columbia University.
The study was conducted by Patrick Flavin, an assistant professor at Baylor University, and Gregory Shufeldt, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. They say that in the United States, “union membership boosts life satisfaction across demographic groups regardless if someone is rich or poor, male or female, young or old, or has a high or low level of education. These results suggest that organized labor in the United States can have significant implications for the quality of life that citizens experience.”
Here’s today’s labor history:
On this date in 1913, some 10,000 clothing workers struck in Rochester, New York, for the 8-hour day, a 10-percent wage increase, union recognition, and extra pay for overtime and holidays. Daily parades were held throughout the clothing district and there was at least one instance of mounted police charging the crowd of strikers and arresting 25 picketers. Six people were wounded over the course of the strike and one worker, 18-year-old Ida Breiman, was shot to death by a sweatshop contractor. The strike was called off in April after manufacturers agreed not to discriminate against workers for joining a union.
In 1936 in Allegany County, Maryland, workers with the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal era public works program employing unmarried men aged 18-25, were snowbound at Fifteen Mile Creek Camp when they received a distress call about a woman in labor who needed to get to a hospital. 20 courageous CCC volunteers dug through miles of snow drifts until the woman was successfully able to be transported
Today’s labor quote is by Howard Zinn:
“I've always resented the smug statements of politicians, media commentators, corporate executives, who talked of how, in America, if you worked hard, you would become rich. The meaning of that was, if you were poor, it was because you hadn't worked hard enough. I knew this was a lie—about my father, and millions of others: men and women who worked harder than anyone.”
Howard Zinn was a historian, playwright, and social activist. He was a shipyard worker and Air Force bombardier before he went to college under the GI Bill and received his Ph.D. from Columbia University.
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