ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY (Scholarly work required) I DISPUTE bad work!!

Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, Vol. 14, No. 1, 2014, pp. 261--280

This paper is part of an ASAP special collection on the Social Psychology of the Great Recession

Social Class Myopia: The Case of Psychology and Labor Unions

Bernice Lott* University of Rhode Island

This article explores the potential for a research agenda that includes scholarship on working class issues and organized labor. Such an agenda is consistent with the official mission of American Psychological Association—to advance knowledge that benefits society and improves people’s lives. I focus on our paucity of interest in the institution that gives the American working class a voice—the labor union. We know that work is one of the central focuses in the lives of most people and that the work experience is deeply implicated in satisfaction with life. The efforts of organized labor to achieve economic fairness and justice, and a healthy workplace environment, are intertwined with multiple corollary consequences that constitute a wide and complex spectrum—from physical job safety and economic security on one end, to the psychological benefits of heightened self-esteem, respect, dignity, empowerment, and affiliation on the other—all related to satisfaction with life. In addition, by advancing and protecting the rights of workers, unions are part of the larger movement for civil rights.

As noted by Williams (2012, p. 39), “Americans display a convenient tone deafness when it comes to class.” Both myopia and Williams’ metaphor are ap- plicable to American psychology. With our discipline’s historical emphasis on the individual, we seem to have left theoretical and empirical concerns with social class largely to sociology. Yet, the assumption of classlessness (or that class is ir- relevant to our concerns) is contradicted by our own data. Class-related measures, such as education, income, occupation, and access to resources, are significantly associated with health and welfare. Acknowledgment of the significance of these indices for people’s lives, families, and communities can be found in our literature

∗Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Bernice Lott, Psychology Depart- ment, Chafee Building, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881. Fax: 401-874-2157 [e-mail: [email protected]].

I am grateful to Steven Mellor for his constructive suggestions.

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DOI: 10.1111/asap.12029 C© 2013 The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues

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(see Lott, 2010, 2012; Lott & Bullock, 2001). Yet, understanding and studying them under the construct of “social class” remains problematic. Especially prob- lematic has been our discipline’s distancing from issues relevant to the working class (see Lott, 2002). Different ways to conceptualize and measure social class are important issues—beyond the focus of this article—but its reality and significance are supported by a vast empirical literature (Diemer et al., 2012).

We need to reconcile our neglect of social class with the mission of the American Psychological Association (APA)—“to advance the creation, commu- nication, and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and im- prove people’s lives”—and with our “Core Values” of “Social justice, diversity, and inclusion” (APA, 2013a). Our objectives engender pride in our organization and discipline, but our research and applications have been focused primarily on human beings who, while slowly acknowledged to differ in gender, ethnicity, and sexuality, continue to be observed with little recognition of socioeconomic status—thus maintaining a traditional view of diversity.

My focus here is specifically on the paucity of interest in, and neglect of, the American labor union—despite its continuously active engagement in efforts to directly and indirectly benefit society and improve people’s lives. These efforts, while centered on the achievement of economic benefits and a fair and healthy workplace environment, are deeply intertwined with multiple corollary positive consequences. The achievements of organized labor constitute a wide and complex spectrum, from physical job safety and economic security on one end, to the psychological benefits of heightened self-esteem, respect, and affiliation, on the other. As concluded succinctly by Pacek (2009, p. 240), “organized labor exerts a largely positive effect on human well-being.”

Given that work is a major focus in the lives of most people (Coshow & Radcliff, 2009), lack of attention to efforts by unions to improve and strengthen the workplace is a serious omission. As noted by Dutt and Radcliff (2009, p. 15), “the work experience affects not only one’s economic well-being, but one’s sense of dignity and self-respect” and “the labor union, as the advocate and agent of the worker in obtaining both income and dignity, has an obvious potential for affecting an individual’s satisfaction with life.”

Ignoring the Role of Unions

Psychology is not alone in ignoring the role that the labor movement plays in the lives of American workers. The U.S. mass media tend to not present fair and extensive discussions of class, and are generally negative in their treatment of working-class and labor issues. When unions are presented, they are often described as not negotiating in good faith, with greedy and self-destructive workers not interested in the larger public’s well-being (Heider, 2004; Martin, 2004). Despite the fact that skilled and unskilled workers constitute about half of the

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labor force in the United States, they are seldom featured positively in television images, stories, news, and entertainment. Martin (2004, p. 11) notes that “Perhaps the most important characteristic of mainstream coverage of labor is that the media are often not covering labor at all.” In 2002, there were fewer than five “labor beat” reporters left at U.S. daily newspapers. A study of 20th century films (Bodner, 2003) found that, while the Hollywood screen portrayed a variety of working- class characters, it “almost never celebrated the labor radical or the power of the militant union” (p. 89). And Coshow & Radcliff (2009, p. 294) write about the “political ambivalence afforded labor movements” that is reflected within the social sciences.

There are many examples of scholarship in our discipline that is incomplete— lacking in full attention to relevant issues—by virtue of neglecting to even mention organized labor. Illustrative is an issue of the American Psychologist that featured several papers on retirement. Shultz and Wang (2011), as well as Adams and Rau (2011), discuss the role of Social Security and employer pensions in making retirement possible for vast numbers of Americans. They also call attention to the negative influence on plans for retirement of downsizing and reduced pension and medical benefits. Yet, there is no discussion of the historical and current relationship between such benefits and labor union membership. Wang, Henkins, and van Solenge (2011, p. 209) note that “predictors of retirement adjustment quality . . . are directly associated with different types of resources that retirees have”—again, there is no mention of unions. Similarly, an APA co-sponsored conference on work, stress, and health, as described and summarized by Dingfelder (2011), did not include the role of organized labor as a topic for discussion.

Dobson and Schnall (2009) note the significant disconnect between our knowledge of the influence of working conditions on mental health and our lack of attention to organized efforts to improve these conditions. A book on multidis- ciplinary perspectives of sex discrimination in the workplace (Crosby, Stockdale, & Ropp, 2007) does not cite in the index any references to either labor unions or collective bargaining, ignoring, for example, research on sexual harassment in which union members have served as respondents (cf. Bulger, 2001). An APA volume on psychology’s contributions to a healthy world (Rozensky, Johnson, Goodheart, & Hammond, 2004) includes three chapters on the importance of the workplace, but there is no mention of organized labor. Even a nonmainstream association like Psychologists for Social Responsibility (2011) overlooked labor unions in an otherwise inclusive presentation of an action agenda for the promotion of psychological health and well-being.

One might expect that organized labor would be a prominent topic within the field of industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology, but that is not the case. I/O psychology has ignored unions, despite the stated mission of the Society for I/O Psychology (SIOP) “to ‘promote human welfare through the various applications of psychology to all types of organizations’” (Zickar, 2004, p. 146). Zickar notes

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that, in the 1990s, labor unions were mentioned in the title or abstract of only 1.3% of published articles in the top 10 most I/O relevant and prestigious journals, and only four of 3,468 SIOP members in 2003 identified union issues as an area of interest.

I/O psychology continues to be closely identified with the issues and concerns of management, a focus that has been evident since the 1930s when federal legislation sought to curtail many of the overt strategies that companies had used to fight unionization efforts. Companies began to recruit applied psychologists who used personality tests to screen out likely union members among job applicants who showed signs of “neurotic tendencies,” and to administer attitude and morale surveys to existing employees to identify workplaces that might be susceptible to a unionization campaign (Zickar, 2004).

Ross Stagner and Arthur Kornhauser were early exceptions in recognizing the positive values of unions, with Kornhauser emphasizing the well-being of workers and potential links between workplace conditions and mental health (Vinchur & Koppes, 2011; Zickar, 2003). A committee of The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) on “Trade Union Affiliation,” and a vote by the SPSSI membership in 1938 to unionize its members (Finison, 1986), also represent early positive recognition of unions. This interest lessened in the 1940s when SPSSI became increasingly involved with World War II and issues of national morale as well as with debates over the appropriate relations between social action and science. There was a brief time in the 1980s when I/O psychology considered the merits of a relationship between organized labor and psychology, illustrated by Division 17’s Public Policy and Social Issues Committee, formed in 1978 (cf. Gordon & Nuriek, 1981). Rosen and Stagner (1980) called for I/O graduate programs to add union-related and union-informed classes, and Huszco, Wiggins, and Carrie (1984) proposed areas in which psychologists could offer their services to unions (e.g., drug abuse programs).

Contemporary neglect of labor unions within I/O psychology and an over- whelming focus on management issues is apparent in the three-volume (2,300- page) handbook of industrial psychology recently published by APA (Zedeck, 2011). The index has one footnote and two single-page mentions of labor unions (and no mention of social class). The handbook contains descriptions of research that may well have profited from the inclusion of union issues and membership. For example, Griffin and Clarke (2011) studied ways to reduce stress at work and increase well-being, but they considered only organizational interventions—for example, management-sponsored health promotion programs and stress coun- seling. The authors explicitly reject changes in “the work environment,” pay increases or benefits, as “not always . . . practicable or desirable.” In another example, Hammer and Zimmerman (2011) write about quality of work life and discuss many work-family topics and public policies without any mention of labor unions. Greenberg (2011) explores the important subject of fairness in the

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workplace, and discusses perceptions of justice, different kinds of justice, and how to measure organizational justice. We can perhaps guess at the author’s attitudes toward unions when we read the following: “negative reactions of employees who believe they have been victims of injustice” can be illustrated by “the ubiquitous image of placards proclaiming ‘unfair’ hoisted in the air by disgruntled strikers on picket lines” (p. 271). While noting that labor unrest is likely to stem from feel- ings of injustice by workers and that “perceptions of injustice . . . take a toll on employees’ physical and mental well-being” (p. 312), the author does not mention the potential positive role of organized labor.

A Very Brief Look at U.S. Labor History

In the 1860s, following the abolition of slavery, workers in the United States began to organize for an 8-hour workday to allow more time to be with their families, for education, self-improvement, and for leisure. The movement for shorter hours was often greeted by employers (aided in some cases by state militias) with broken promises, police harassment and beatings, raids, strike- breaking, lockouts, and execution of labor leaders convicted of being anarchists. In 1884, shortly after President Grover Cleveland declared the first Monday in September to be Labor Day, and a national holiday, he sent 12,000 troops to break up the Pullman Strike (Flanders, 2012).

The mid-1880s saw the rise of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which led the labor movement until the 1930s when the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was formed. Skilled workers had found a home in the AFL, but immigrant workers who were largely unskilled had turned to the Industrial Workers of the World, which had a radical vision of class struggle. With passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, the 8-hour day became a matter of federal law. Both the 8-hour day and the 40-hour workweek are the result of union initiatives and struggles for fair rewards for labor based on belief in a social contract of reciprocity between employer and worker. The laws that were proposed and finally enacted were meant “to allow for physical and mental recovery time from work” (Dobson & Schnall, 2009, p. 113).

New Deal legislation such as the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (the Wagner Act) gave workers a legal right to choose union membership and engage in collective bargaining; and established unemployment compensation, overtime pay, and the minimum wage. This legislation recognized that “collective strength was essential . . . [in order] for the worker to approach the employer as an equal . . . [and receive] the dignity of fair treatment” (Zweig, 2000, p. 121). During the 1930s more than 4 million workers joined unions. Nearly 30% of U.S. workers belonged to unions in 1945, and 35% in the mid-1950s. In 1955, the two major unions joined together to form the AFL-CIO and, in the 1960s, more than 30% of the workforce was unionized (Edelman, 2012). According to some analysts

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(Kahlenberg & Marvit, 2012; Zweig, 2004), it was organized labor that helped build a sturdy middle-class in the United States after World War II. During the first 30 years after the war, a strong labor union voice was successful in raising wages and working standards for both union and nonunion workers (Feeney, 2012).

By 1983, however, only 20.1% of workers were in unions. According to Martin (2004, p. 32), “labor’s postwar decline” in membership and economic and political power can be attributed to the “overlapping factors of unfavorable legislation, employer resistance, labor’s own growing conservatism, and changes in popular attitudes.” Edelman (2012) suggests the importance, as well, of structural changes in the economy and a new political vigor by big business. Now, in the second decade of the 21st century, union membership is at its lowest point—11.3% in 2012 (35.9% for public sector workers and 6.6% in the private sector) (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). While 14.4 million workers report union membership, 15.9 million are covered by union contract benefits.

Some new initiatives appear to be revitalizing the labor movement. Living- wage campaigns begun in 1994, for example, have spread, succeeding in raising wages and helping to maintain union jobs in cities and states that have adopted living-wage ordinances (Luce, 2005). Some local rank-and-file direct actions by warehouse and food workers have also been successful, for example, warehouse employee strikes at Walmart, and protests in seafood processing and other food- industry plants.

Anti-Union Tactics and Consequences

“[O]rchestrated resistance to union formation and collective bargaining . . . is part of [our] . . . country’s history” (Zandy, 2004, p. 43). From the beginning, union growth was fought through intimidation and harassment of organizers, violence, arrests and deportations, and by restrictive laws to make organizing and union membership more difficult (Martin, 2004). Especially damaging to unions were two federal laws—the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which outlawed slowdowns, wildcat strikes, and sitdowns, and the Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959, which limited the right to picket during strikes, and required unions to open their records to federal investigators.

Unions, particularly those in the public sector, are currently targeted for blame for state budget deficits and fiscal problems, said to result from pensions and benefits and overpaid city and state workers (Greenhouse, 2011; Moberg, 2011). Anti-union legislation passed by several Republican controlled legislatures has singled out unions representing municipal workers, police and firefighters, and especially teachers (Greenhouse, 2012a). In the film “Won’t Back Down,” a critic for the New York Times (Scott, 2012) noted that teachers union leaders are portrayed as cynical and self-serving; one teacher as “a lazy, tenured lump of pedagogical indifference”; and another teacher (one of the two film heroines) as a

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“once-proud teacher whose idealism and dedication have withered after years of frustration” (par. 4).

Current employer tactics in the private sector include the “lockout” of union- ized workers and the hiring of replacements. These were used by the American Crystal Sugar Company of Minnesota, whose CEO compared the union to a can- cerous tumor that had to be removed (Diamond, 2011). Greenhouse (2008) has described the tactics that corporations employ in their fight against organizing, and their efforts to weaken the labor movement—workers fear asking for raises and protesting poor working conditions, the pink slips of layoffs, and retaliation for pro-union activities.

A lucrative “union-avoidance industry” of 2,000 consultants ranges from “shady outfits . . . to some of the nation’s most reputable law firms” (Greenhouse, 2008, p. 249); these consultants “specialize in keeping the workplace ‘union free’” (Zweig, 2000, p. 146). Two studies have documented the use of such consultants by 75% of companies that were facing drives to organize. Recommended by the consultants are: requiring employees to attend group or one-on-one meetings to hear anti-union messages from managers; and threatening to close companies if unions win an election (cf. Greenhouse, 2008). Mellor and Kathi (2011) cite a study of 62 elections in 2002 that found anti-union tactics used by 98% of employers, advised by external consultants 82% of the time—with tactics that included the promise of higher wages and threats to close or relocate the business. In their study of more than 1,000 nonunion workers, Mellor and Kathi found a negative relationship between willingness to work for union representation and fear of reprisals for disclosing an interest in unions.

So-called Right to Work legislation, currently law in 22 states, makes it illegal for labor contracts to require workers to pay union dues. Workers in these states earn less, and are less likely to receive employer-sponsored health care (King, 2012); in 2012, six such states were among the 10 in the nation with the highest rates of unemployment (Rosenthal, 2012). While it is illegal to fire someone for trying to organize a union, companies do this repeatedly since the penalties—back pay for the fired employee—are weak and poorly enforced (Kahlenberg & Marvit, 2012). Employers are allowed to appeal and thus delay a union vote.

Simmons and Harding (2009), noting such anti-union strategies as job ex- porting and an increased use of part-time workers, argue that government and corporations have both worked against organized labor by decreasing industry regulations relevant to wages, hours, and the right to organize. The D.C. Circuit Court, for example, recently ruled that the free speech of employers is violated when a company is required to post a notice on bulletin boards that federal law gives workers the right to form a union (Tritch, 2013). In discussing a 2012 Supreme Court ruling (on a union special assessment), Linda Greenhouse (2013, par. 8) refers to it as “the latest in years of Supreme Court losses for organized labor on central questions of collective bargaining.”

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Table 1. Contributions of U.S. Labor Movement to Individual and Family Health and Welfare

Attention to safety of the workplace Benefits, pensions, sick leave, and medical insurance Child labor laws Fair wages, job security Minimum wage and overtime pay legislation Respect on the job Right to engage in collective bargaining The 8-hour day and 40-hour workweek Unemployment compensation

A number of analysts have argued that the media are typically unfriendly to organized labor, often treating unions “as advocates of arcane work rules, protectors of inefficient public employees and obstacles to . . . economic growth” (Dionne, 2011, par. 4). Dionne argues that investors are presented in the media as heroes, while workers are the sideshows, whose activities, jobs, and lives are rarely covered, reflecting a “cool indifference to the heroism of those who go to work every day.” Zweig (2000, p. 56), a union historian, has documented the “hostility to organized labor” found in the mass media, concluding that, in the media, “The working class is truly the silenced majority.” Over the past decades, union membership has been greatest when the media have reported favorably and positively about unions, and when the government has played a neutral role.

Why Should Psychologists Care?

An APA survey by the newly established Center for Organizational Excellence (APA, 2013b) found that more than one-third of the American workers in their sample experience work stress, and less than half felt adequately compensated or recognized. Another APA survey found that 65% of adults cited work as a “significant source of stress.” Clearly then, psychologists should be very interested in the ongoing work of organized labor because of its historical and continued significant contributions to worker health and welfare. A list of these contributions is presented in Table 1.

All the goals of traditional union organizing and activism are focused on contributing positively to the welfare of individuals and families In 2012, for example, the median take-home pay for union workers was $943 a week, compared with $742 for nonunion workers (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). That union workers may work in different industries than nonunion workers is an important factor, but the wage differential is significant. “It is well documented,” notes Zweig (2005, p. 103) “that unions and collective bargaining improve the wages, benefits, and working conditions of their members compared with similar workers not in

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unions. Union protection for workers also improves their productivity [and] the quality of the products they produce.”

Organized labor is committed to obtaining and maintaining both economic benefits and fair and decent workplaces. Beyond the benefits of higher wages, the union movement in the United States has won what we all now take for granted: weekends, sick days and medical leave, maternity leave, overtime, worker’s com- pensation benefits, child labor laws, employer based health coverage, retirement plans and pensions, vacations, and rules for safe working conditions and practices. These achievements benefit nonunion as well as union workers, and many are cod- ified into federal or state law. In summing up the varied positive consequences of collective bargaining by unions in the United States, Cobble (2007) includes: increasing the supply of good jobs at all levels of education; increasing political participation; and “ensuring that individuals have dignity and time for themselves, their families, their friends, and their communities” (p. 8).

An absolute priority of organized labor is to make the workplace as safe as possible (Bulger, 2001), and unions have saved lives and prevented serious injuries. In the coal industry, for example, one study found a decline of at least one-third in such statistics in mines that are unionized (cf. Meister, 2011); the major mine disasters in the past few decades have taken place in nonunion mines. Prior to 1966, employers were not required to, and argued that they need not, discuss issues of worker health and safety with the union. This changed when the NLRB ruled that these were legitimate issues for collective bargaining. As noted by Kelloway (2004, p. 251), unions press for “three basic rights of workers: the right to know (about hazards in the workplace), the right to participate (in removing hazards and improving workplace safety), and the right to refuse unsafe work.” The tragic explosion of a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, took place in a nonunion plant that hadn’t been federally inspected for 28 years (Eskow, 2013b), something that a union would not have allowed.

Western and Rosenfeld (2011) argue that unions contribute to the “moral economy” by reinforcing the value of fairness and placing that value within an institutional framework. Zweig (2004) makes the point that unions are not just about money but about respect and fairness—securing an equitable share of what labor produces and providing “a decent life for the worker and his or her family” (p. 9). By advancing and protecting the rights of workers, unions are part of the larger movement for civil rights, and part of the progress made to reduce ethnic and gender inequities in the economy (Chang, 2003; Isaac & Christiansen, 2002). One study (Drago, Colbeck, Hollenshead, & Sullivan, 2008) found a positive effect of faculty unionization on family-related organizational policies. Using faculties in English and Chemistry as respondents, the investigators found (in the more than 500 colleges and universities that they surveyed) that the unions had promoted work-family policies that led to a decrease in the use of “bias avoidance” strategies, that is, behaviors that minimize the appearance of family commitments in order

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to enhance career success. Such strategies were found significantly less often in colleges with faculty unions.

As the active and legal voice of organized workers, unions make significant and direct contributions to the enhancement of members’ well-being (Gordon, Jaurequi, & Schnall, 2009). These include increased opportunities for compan- ionship, unified action to achieve positive goals, social connectedness, a sense of community, trust, and ability to redress grievances (Mann, 2011; Pacek, 2009). Union membership provides the opportunity for control and power over some aspects of one’s work life and family life, thus promoting self-esteem and psycho- logical well-being and autonomy (Rosenberg, 2009). A sense of empowerment follows from the experience of having a clear group “voice” and from collective action (Isaac & Christiansen, 2002; Sharp, 2011).

Radcliff (2005) calls attention to the role unions play in enhancing mem- bers’ communication, social and problem-solving skills, and in promoting more knowledgeable and active citizenship. Thus, for example, union members are more likely than nonmembers to vote in presidential and congressional elections, re- gardless of income, education, and occupation (Leighley & Nagler, 2007). States with stronger unions have greater voter turnout. In the 2012 presidential election, organized labor played a crucial role (Greenhouse, 2012b; Metzgar, 2012), with almost 20% of voters, nationally, coming from union households.

Fuller and Hester (2001) surveyed members of a steelworkers local in the southeast and found that union membership can satisfy socio-emotional needs— “the need for approval, self-esteem, affiliation, and respect” (p. 1096). Similarly, in a sample of 17 industrialized democracies, union members were found to express greater satisfaction with their lives (cf. Radcliff, 2005). Persons in countries with greater levels of unionization showed more evidence of subjective well-being.

There is a documented positive relationship between union membership and job satisfaction (Artz, 2010), and “job satisfaction is one of the most important determinants of overall life satisfaction” (Coshow & Radcliff, 2009, p. 286). Job satisfaction is most likely to follow from job security, a good work environment, and from having a voice in the conditions of one’s work. Unions encourage social support networks, connections, and a sense of solidarity, and our psychological literature provides empirical support for the conclusion that social connectedness is positively related to subjective well-being.

Coshow and Radcliff (2009) tested the hypothesis that union membership contributes to quality of life, using survey data from more than 40,000 respondents in the 48 continental U. S. states, polled annually from 1983 to 1999. They found strong support, related to union membership density within states. Their data reinforce empirical findings about the negative mental and physical health consequences of job stressors from unfair workloads, low levels of on-the-job autonomy, and being under-rewarded (Dobson & Schnall, 2009), the prevention of which are all union objectives.

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A decline in unionized jobs has been correlated with growth in employment that is insecure, where layoffs can occur, and that does not provide fair pay, pensions, or health benefits (Kalleberg, Reskin, & Hudson, 2000). Such “bad jobs” have been shown to negatively impact not just earnings, but also health and welfare (Raymo et al., 2011). The retail and service jobs available to young people, where 68% of those between the ages of 16 and 24 are employed, and where unions are rare, are particularly characterized by high stress from repetitive tasks, uncertain hours and scheduling, few benefits, limited learning opportunities, and extremely high turnover (Tannock, 2004).

Inclusion and Diversity

In expanding outreach for membership, unions have become more and more welcoming to women, immigrants and people of color (Levi, 2001) and have made a focus on issues of discrimination and family life clear and explicit. New bargaining concerns, beyond livable wages, safety, health insurance, and retire- ment benefits, are such family supports as schedule flexibility, eldercare services, child and after-school care, paid family leave, and part-time work with benefits (Firestein & Dones, 2007).

In 2005, women were 43% of all workers covered by union contracts, with al- most 7 million women members, making “organized labor . . . the largest women’s movement in the country” (Cobble, 2007, p. 6). Unionized women earn an average of 31% more than women who are not in unions—with education, training, and education controlled (Bronfenbrenner, 2005). In 2004, they earned an average of $19.18 per hour compared with $15.05 an hour for women not in unions. In addi- tion, unionized women are much more likely to have health insurance, pensions, job protection for pregnant workers, family leave, and job flexibility (Milkman, 2007).

Union organizing victories have been greatest since the 1980s in work sectors with high percentages of women, and particularly high percentages of women of color. These include the public sector, health care, home care, hotels, food services, light manufacturing, support staff in schools, and graduate students and adjunct faculty in universities (Bronfenbrenner, 2005; Milkman, 2007). One of the strongest voices in the contemporary union movement is that of National Nurses United, part of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) (Sharp, 2011). And women now hold two of the top three leadership positions in the AFL-CIO, while several national unions have women presidents.

As noted by Cranford (2007, p. 410), “unions may become sites where women are able to renegotiate gender inequalities in significant ways.” Thus, for example, in a study of women janitors in union leadership positions, she found that they were experiencing both personal and political transformations, empowerment, increased confidence to assert their views and to challenge the assumption that

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unions are the domain of men. A survey mailed to a large sample of rank and file members in a Northeastern union local (Mellor, Barnes-Farrell, & Stanton, 1999) found that a relationship between the perceived effectiveness of the union and participation (meeting attendance and offices held) was strongest for ethnic minority women, “arguably at the highest risk of unfair treatment and outcomes in the workplace” (p. 342), and next strongest for other women. Unions are expressing concern about sexual harassment in the workplace, and some have put in place clear procedures to assist women in reporting abuses and discrimination (Bulger, 2001). Results from a sample of union women suggest greater willingness to participate in union activities when their union is perceived as having a low tolerance for sexual harassment, as indicated by procedures and policies (Mellor & Golay, 2014).

The CIO was an early force in working for civil rights and ethnic equal- ity, pressing for integrated workplaces, integrated unions, and federal anti- discrimination legislation. During the famous sanitation workers strike in Memphis in 1968, to which Dr. Martin Luther King had traveled to lend his support (and where he was murdered), workers carried signs reading “I Am A Man” (Isaac & Christiansen, 2002). African American workers now make up a dispropor- tionately large portion of public sector workers, and 13.4% of all Black workers are members of unions—the largest proportion of any ethnic group (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). Unionized Black workers earn 35% more, and unionized Latino/a workers earn 51% more, than their counterparts who are not in unions. It is thus not surprising to find that non-Whites in the United States express more pro-union sentiments than Whites and “see the labor movement as an essential institution through which they can address their economic, social and political is- sues” (Chang, 2003, p. 192). There is a current focus on training Latino/a workers, 2.1 million of whom are unionized, and in supporting amnesty and citizenship for undocumented immigrants. May Day, the international worker’s holiday, has become an occasion for immigrant communities in the United States to voice their unique concerns (Johnston, 2012).

Some unions have worked to lessen discrimination against sexual minorities (Cobble, 2007) and, since 1997, the AFL-CIO has recognized its LGBT mem- bers as a formal constituency group. Pride at Work, the officially recognized group, had 16 chapters by 2005. Thus, with regard to its efforts to combat dis- crimination against sexual minorities, the U.S. labor movement “has shifted from being part of the problem to being part of the solution” (Hunt & Boris, 2007, p. 98).

There is a renewed focus on young and immigrant workers, low-wage work- ers, part-timers, and temporary workers, who are often “invisible” (Hertz, 2010; Simmons & Harding, 2009). Many of these are found in domestic service, not sub- ject to most labor and safety laws, and in McJobs—minimum-wage and low-skill service, hotel and retail jobs—that are generally regarded as “dead-end.” Such a

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label tends to devalue the work, discourages efforts to improve conditions, and is a source of feelings of shame. Average turnover in such jobs is often close to 100%, since these jobs are highly stressful and repetitive, with great uncertainty in hours and schedules.

A study of young workers in supermarket unions found that the union had succeeded in raising wages, increasing benefits, and providing protection from mistreatment and from being fired (Tannock, 2004).

According to the International Labor Organization, the United States has the largest share of low-paid jobs among all industrialized countries (cf. Reich, 2013). These are jobs as fast-food cooks, hotel cleaners, cashiers, and hospital orderlies. A full-time kitchen food prep worker earned less than $19,000 in 2012, cashiers less than $21,000. The lowest paid workers are in limited-service restaurants like McDonalds that employ more than 2 million workers, and workers in seven of the largest corporations in the United States earn less than $30,000 a year. Among personal home care aides, the fastest growing occupation, 57% live in poverty (cf. Porter, 2012). Most minimum wage workers are adults (approximately 80%), disproportionately women with children, in large corporations, not small companies (Eskow, 2013a).

Unions are continuing their historical efforts to “improve the lives of low-wage workers and . . . reduce inequality” (Greenhouse, 2008, p. 242)—adding inequal- ity stemming from age and lesser skills to that of ethnicity and gender. In collabora- tion with social justice and civil rights groups, unions are sponsoring actions aimed at raising wages and improving conditions for such workers. Illustrative of this effort is a multi-restaurant strike by fast-food workers in New York City whose me- dian pay is $9 an hour ($18,500 a year for a full-time worker) (Greenhouse, 2012c). As noted by Bittman (2013, par. 5) “a rapidly increasing number of food industry and other retail workers are now fighting for basic rights: halfway decent pay, a real work schedule, the right to organize, health care, paid sick days, vacations and re- spect.” The SEIU is providing advice and financial assistance in this extraordinary effort. Another union-supported group, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, has reported the results of a first-ever national survey of more than 2,000 nannies, caregivers, and housecleaners in urban areas (Burnham & Theodore, 2012). Using a participatory methodology, the investigators documented the abuse and exploita- tion experienced by domestic workers, most of whom are women—immigrants and people of color—who keep silent about exploitation because of fear of job loss and deportation.

Since the early 2000s, university faculty unions have reached out to con- tingent or adjunct faculty members for inclusion (e.g., see AAUP, 2012), in order to provide job security, fair compensation, and access to benefits. My university now has three chapters of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)—for full-time faculty, graduate assistants, and per course instructors.

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Proposals for Advancing Psychology’s Research Agenda

Related to our neglect of scholarship on social class are unrecognized implicit negative assumptions about working class characteristics found in our literature (see Lott, 2010, 2012; Lott & Bullock, 2007), as well as in the media and in political arguments about persons who receive welfare and other so-called entitlements (Bullock, 2013). Rose (2004) has written about judgments often made about the intelligence of people who labor in service work or in the manufacturing of products—work often described as “mindless” and considered to be “neck down” rather than “neck up.” He notes that we tend to judge a person’s intelligence by the work she or he does, and we assume that persons in certain occupations are not as smart as we are.

Rose (2004, p. 197) argues that “most working men and women try to find meaning in what they do—through the activity of the work itself or through what their wages make possible outside of the workplace.” How accurate is this statement for workers in diverse workplaces, and for “excluded workers”—those who are outside the traditional protections offered to workers by practice or law (Williams, 2012)? I present this as a proposal for new research. Anderson (2012) alluded to the importance of pursuing such a question as we try to understand “work-life fit.” He wrote, “American workers aren’t just looking for monetary gain—they want balance and meaning in their work lives” (p. 9).

Another proposal for research can be credited to Richard Trumka (cf. Richardson, 2011), president of the AFL-CIO. Most people in the United States, he believes, are largely ignorant of labor union history. How do demographic groups differ on such knowledge, and is knowledge of corporations greater, lesser, or the same as knowledge about unions? What variables correlate with information, beliefs and attitudes about collective bargaining? What are the sources for information and beliefs about labor unions—in schools and in the media?

We can examine other empirical questions: Are minorities of color and peo- ple who have experienced negative economic events more pro-union than others (Chang, 2003)? What psychological characteristics distinguish the 52% of Amer- icans found in a recent Gallup poll to approve of unions (cf. Greenhouse, 2011)? Dionne (2011) has written of “our cool indifference to the heroism of those who go to work every day” (par. 13). How common is such indifference, and what are its antecedents and correlates?

Our social psychological literature can help us to understand the phenomenon of scapegoating—a highly relevant construct for an investigation of the current targeting of public sector unions said to be responsible for the hard economic times experienced by cities and states. We can also examine the factors/variables (both individual and institutional) that encourage or discourage interest in union membership—as illustrated by the work of Mellor (2009). His survey of nonunion

Psychology and Labor Unions 275

workers explored the influence of economic factors and self-evaluations. Ham- mer and Avgar (2005) propose that consideration of both potential benefits and potential costs (e.g., dues, adversarial relationship with employer) affect workers’ interest in joining unions.

There is considerable literature in psychology on the influence of employment and a variety of job-related factors on family life, and attention has been paid to the importance of work experiences for individuals and families. APA’s Public Interest Directorate held a congressional briefing on “The Power of Work” that dealt with the impact of joblessness and the positive effects of job satisfaction on relationships and well-being (APA, 2011). Yet, we remain indifferent to research on the wide- ranging contributions that labor unions make to such issues (Zickar, 2004). A recent example is a paper on work–home interface (ten Brummelhurst & Baker, 2012) that discusses problems associated with working overtime and having to face new tasks at work—with no mention of unions. There are exceptions, such as a report of the impact of work on mental health that links anti-union developments to increased workplace stressors, decreased autonomy, under-rewards, and distress (Dobson & Schnall, 2009).

A number of areas in our science and application might profit considerably from adding to the demographic information we typically obtain from study re- spondents or clients, whether or not they are union members. This may prove to be an important variable in investigations of such issues as work stress, retirement plans, and areas of life satisfaction.

Should psychologists be concerned with the fact that nearly half of workers in the United States get no paid sick days (Greenhouse, 2006)? Can we ignore the consequences of this state of affairs for family well-being and ignore the data documenting that children get well sooner if their parents can take time off from work to care from them? Cities and states have begun to legislate on this issue, with San Francisco; Washington, DC; Seattle; and Connecticut now guaranteeing paid sick days for workers (Ness, 2012).

APA’s Office of Socioeconomic Status is a significant addition to our institu- tional structure, and may be able to attract outside agency funding for an ambitious research program focused on some of these questions. Such a program would serve well to advance APA’s mission (APA, 2013a). We strive to obtain, and to apply, “psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people’s lives,” and our goals include achievement of “social justice, diversity, and inclusion.” Surely, then, we need to widen our vision and accept social class as a vital feature of personal, family, and community identification and life. Doing so will encourage recognition of the significance of such class-based institutions as organized labor, and encourage us to study its efforts to benefit society and improve the quality of personal lives—both directly and indirectly, through the advancement of civil rights. We can open a dialogue that should broaden and enrich many areas of our scholarship and application.

276 Lott

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