were in 1926. Unions are needed to lessen these inequities by fighting for workers wages.In Richard Freeman's, What Do Unions Do, he states, "Union membership advances pay treatment for groups that are historically the least paid. There is a wider disparity in the wages of Union vs. non Union workers among the following groups. The young, who are the lowest paid, the worker with least tenure, non whites and women." ( 47 ). The last groups mentioned, non whites and women are making up more and more of the American work force. The following is from an AFL/CIO news release dated April 18, 1996. "Of the 100 million women 16 and older in the US, 60 million are in the work force." The statement goes on to state, Woman that work in union jobs earn on average $145 more each week and have better job security, training, and promotional opportunities, health care and pension plans. ( 1 )BenefitsFringe Benefits are an ever increasing part of the employees compensation package. Freeman and Medoff states, in What Unions Do, "In 1951, 17 percent of the compensation of American blue-collar workers consisted of fringe benefits, defined as employer payments beyond money wages. In 1981 that figure had risen to over 30 per cent." ( 61 ) These increases are a direct result of union representation and the collective bargaining process. With the ever spiraling cost of health care in the United States more and more companies are looking to share this cost with the union represented workers. In 1985 NYNEX implemented a FLEX policy of health coverage for their management workers. This policy required management to share that cost. In 1990, NYNEX attempted to institute that same policy to its organized workers represented by CWA. A six month strike ensued which was finally resolved with NYNEX withdrawing the Flex Medical policy from the negotiation table. It was CWA's active protest, through a work stoppage, that prevented this policy from bein...
